Avengers
by Coulson is a Beast
Summary: When Loki attacks the free world with the Hulk as his personal war machine Nick Fury is forced to bring together the Avengers for the first time. Earths Mightiest Heroes take on the God of Mischief and his minions, but will they stop him in time? Sequel to the rest of my stories.
1. Prologue: Captured

"Can you hear me Bruce Banner?" came a silky smooth voice. Bruce's senses were shaken at the moment. He shook his head trying to clear his mind when he realized that he was so disoriented because he had a bag over his head. He felt his heart begin to pick up and had force himself to calm down in fear of unleashing the Hulk blindly. He hadn't had any transformation since New York almost six months ago.

He searched his memory trying to figure out where he could possibly be, he had been moving through Alaska last he remembered. The air was too warm to still be that far north which meant he had been moved from where he was. "I know you're awake" came the voice again which sounded so familiar to Bruce.

A hand grabbed the top of the bag and pulled allowing Bruce to visually take in his surroundings, the ground was dirt and he was sitting inside a basement. He looked up and saw a man with long jet black hair, pale skin, and a green set of eyes. "You!" he said prompting a smile from the man "You were at the temple in Japan, you unleashed the Hulk on the squad sent to capture me."

"Yes I was, my name is Loki. I'm from Asgard and you and I are about to be very well acquainted" he spoke. Loki knew he needed to be careful, he had cast the spell but he wouldn't know if it worked until the Hulk was unleashed.

Bruce maintained his composure while he weighed his options, he could let the Hulk out to play and smash his way out which he was fairly certain would work, but the other side of that was that he had no idea where he was innocents could be close by and get caught in the crossfire and if Shield wasn't around to keep people out of harm's way he could not risk the public's safety.

Loki noticed quite a few changes about Banner pretty quickly the most important of which is that the man had clearly accepted his other side, when Loki last encountered the man he could see a hint of fear in his eyes and that fear was clearly gone. Bruce was analyzing his situation at the moment probably deciding whether the Hulk would be better suited for the current scenario, Loki had the time to wait he knew after Japan that he could control the Hulk with a simple control spell and he had spent all the time since finding a more long term solution to controlling the monster. He had been patient, it had been nearly a year since he fell through the portal at the Raven's Spire and building up his power since then had been quite the journey.

Now with the key to his victory sitting right in front of him, he soon felt the anticipation build up in his body, but he needed to wait just a little longer. He had infiltrated Shield, read their files, all their little schemes that Nick Fury had been planning. He had met Stark, watched the solider who had been frozen in time, and Fury's top two agents. Shield was active all over the world, but most of its focus the last few weeks was in the land called Africa, which is where he planned to get started.

"You can't hold me here" stated Bruce hoping that he might be able to talk his way out of this, Loki turned to face him. "If you don't let me go something really bad is going to happen to you."

"Oh really? What exactly are you going to do to me?"

"Not me…the other guy" replied Bruce as Loki leaned in bringing his green eyes up to Bruce's brown ones.

"I'm counting on him" he said with a smile as Bruce felt sleep overtake him.


	2. Agamemnon

A cargo ship steams through a storm in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, a blonde haired man was sitting on the bridge. He was in perfect shape the epitome of human physicality, "Agamemnon" called one of his men prompting him to turn and look at some of his men who were stationed with him. "We've lost contact with the men on the stern" one of them stated prompting a scoff from Agamemnon.

"He's here" he said with an American accent. "Move everyone out, Hydra wants these weapons and we have to get as many out as we can" he said checking his weapons and making his way down to the holds where the weapons were being stored. He had led the hijacking a few hours ago, stealing weapons directly from Shield was a dangerous game to play but Hydra needed to make a statement. Hydra bases were being attacked all over the world and security footage had showed that an old enemy had returned and this had set off alarms in the many heads of Hydra that they needed to make a splash.

The hijacking was easy, Agamemnon and his men were some of the best that Hydra had to offer and the Shield agents that were guarding the ship were pretty green and it didn't take long for them to take control but one of the young Shield agents had managed to set off an alarm meaning that moving out like this was only a matter of time. He moved down to the crates and opened one of them and looked over the new Shield weapons that were being shipped to be tested at some random Shield base but now they were heading straight into the arms of Hydra.

Agamemnon was about to close the crate when an arrow hit the wooden crate lid and then another flew in popping one of Agamemnon's men. The rest of his men blindly fired since they didn't see where the arrow had come from, Agamemnon reached in and grabbed one of the weapons and started to move out of the holds.

Hawkeye took cover behind a crate above the holds on a catwalk while the Hydra agents fired blindly into the dark "Ok, the head of Hydra is making his way out another way" he said into his radio as his back up arrived from the deck. "Rumlow, give me some suppressing fire I need to get up top" ordered Hawkeye as he moved to get back up to the deck. Brock Rumlow was the leader of the black ops squad that Shield tended to use for these kind of operations.

Hawkeye hit the stairs and started to run hoping to get to the deck and prevent Agamemnon from leaving.

Agamemnon opened the door and ran into the rain of the Atlantic Ocean storm, he looked and spotted his escape, a helicopter on the bow of the ship. He started to move when something caught his legs and dropped him onto his back, he watched as the object as if controlled rounded back around and ended up in the hand of a man just in the darkness "It's over" he stated stepping into the light with his red, white, and blue outfit coming into view.

Agamemnon stood up "Hydra will never surrender to the likes of you Captain" he said as he charged and tried to deliver a kick to Captain America who dodged quickly. The two warriors traded strikes each landing a few blows while plenty of blocking but Captain America knew that Agamemnon wouldn't be able to withstand too much more of a fight thanks to the Super Soldier Serum that gave him his abilities.

Agamemnon went for a high kick that Captain America easily ducked and delivered a kick to Agamemnon's midsection that sent him flying several feet back. Agamemnon slid next to the Shield weapon that he had brought with him, he picked it up and opened fire on Captain America who was able to block the attack. "This is familiar" he said noticing that it was not a bullet that came out of the gun but an energy blast. Several of the energy blasts struck the Cap's Shield and backed him up until he hit the railing on the side of the ship. Agamemnon grabbed a grenade from his belt and tossed it towards Captain America.

"Look out Cap" shouted Hawkeye who ran and tackled him just out of the way of the grenade before it exploded.

Agamemnon took advantage of the situation and sprinted towards the helicopter, he looked back and could see that neither Captain America nor Hawkeye were chasing him down. He laughed as he ran off thinking that he was going to complete his mission, Hydra could reverse engineer the weapon that he was bringing them. He got up the stairs to the helipad and he looked back to see that both Captain America and Hawkeye were finally giving chase but they were too far away to stop him now. He smiled and turned back towards the helicopter and entered the pilot's seat planning to fly off and leave Captain America and his friends far behind them.

"Agamemnon is getting away…anyone got a chance to get this guy out of the air" Captain America stated into his radio.

Hawkeye pulled out an arrow and took aim but didn't fire "Wind is too strong" he stated as he untensed his arm and returned the bow to his back.

"Perfect" said Cap sarcasticly as he pushed on hoping that he might be able to get there on time.

"He's not going anywhere" came the calm voice of Natasha Romanoff.

Agamemnon tried to get lift off but realized that the chopper had been damaged beyond repair "What the hell?" he said before turning back and seeing the red hair of the Black Widow.

"Hello" she stated before firing her widow's bite and incapacitating the Hydra agent where he sat.

Cap and Hawkeye arrived to find that Widow had handcuffed Agamemnon to the bars that the helicopter landed on. "Good work" said Cap as he looked Agamemnon over "I see the upgrades to your widow's bite seem to have helped quite a bit" he said as he turned his attention to the weapon that Agamemnon was trying to steal.

"Rumlow, give me a sit rep" said Hawkeye into his radio.

"Cargo secured" came Rumlow's voice, his men had taken care of Agamemnon's boys with relative ease and the only weapon missing was the one that Agamemnon had attempted to leave with.

"I need to talk to Fury right now" said Cap as he stormed off the helipad and into dryer space.

"Director Fury, we have secured the ship and cargo…and Captain Rogers would like a word with you" reported Black Widow.

"Roger that Romanoff, extraction inbound" stated Fury from the Quinjet that was flying silently above them.

The trio boarded the Quinjet and found Fury waiting for them "Rumlow and his men will oversee the rest of the transport of the weapons from here" said Fury as the Quinjet closed and started to take off.

"These weapons that we are keeping from Hydra are the same weapons that the Red Skull intended to use to take over the world back in the 1940's" stated Rogers as he walked towards Fury with a purpose.

Fury was afraid of this kind of reaction Steve Rogers may have skills built for a modern day world but his thinking was still very much from the 1940's. "After Hydra fell back in the 40's the SSR claimed a lot of tech and science notes from their base and we haven't used them since we've had them but things have changed recently. Hydra isn't the only threat that Shield faces on a daily basis and the threats are only getting bigger and stronger."

Agamemnon was handcuffed and strapped in by Hawkeye who took a seat next to Natasha who was simply watching Fury and Rogers have their disagreement. "Yeah and if Shield had destroyed those notes and tech than we wouldn't have to worry about Hydra trying to steal them" he said taking a seat across from Clint and Natasha.

Fury looked like he was about to speak but decided against it as he turned back towards the pilot "Take us to the Raft" he ordered as the Quinjet flew through the storm.


	3. Nightmares

There he was, just inches from his grasp "Reach" he shouted as his brother was holding on for dear life. He got closer and closer he could see the green in his brother's eyes "C'mon" he shouted as his brother tumbled into the void and vanished.

Thor shot awake sitting up with sweat pouring out of his body, he was in his bedroom in Asgard and Loki was still gone. He put his head in his hands as he tried to calm his breathing and slow his heart rate, this was how his nights went now, he sleeps and then shaken awake by the events that led to Loki's death. He had replayed what happened on the Raven's Spire over and over again and had asked himself so many times if he could have done anything differently that could have saved Loki from his fate.

He had gone to Earth soon after Loki's death intending to spend a lot of time with Jane but the nightmares had forced him to leave her behind, he hadn't seen her in almost a year thanks to his nightmares and handling more of Asgard's affairs. He had sent messages informing Jane, she said that she understood but asked that the messages stop being delivered to her and Thor had respected her wishes.

He stood up and stepped out onto his balcony taking in the brisk Asgardian night and let it cool him off. Thor shook his head and put on some casual clothes and started walking since it was clear to him that he was not getting back to sleep tonight, the guards paid Thor no attention given how often these walks had been occurring. He passed through the palace and walked onto the Bifrost Bridge and soon found himself at the observatory where Heimdall was standing at his post.

"More nightmares son of Odin?" asked Heimdall without even looking at Thor knowing that he was on his way there. He had often found himself out at the observatory when his nightmares had prevented him from getting sleep.

"Yes I'm afraid so" replied Thor stepping forward to stand next to Heimdall. "How are things going in the Nine Realms today?" he asked trying to get his mind off of his guilt induced nightmares.

Heimdall smirked "Things are just fine today, just like it was yesterday and the day before that one. Is there anything or anyone specific that you would like me to check on?" he asked knowing that Thor would at least want a passing glance at the mortal Jane Foster.

Thor smiled "You know me too well old friend" he said as Heimdall focused his vision on the Earth and looking for Jane Foster.

Heimdall vision carried along Midgard passing by millions of Midgardians every second and then he spotted his target. Jane Foster was laying down in her bed at the moment, she was in a place the Midgardians called Spain studying some old castle. "She is well, young Odinson" he stated prompting a smile and a sigh from Thor. "You should see her soon" Heimdall advised noting how depressed Thor had been since he returned from Midgard shortly after Loki's death.

"I will" Thor stated doubting the statement even as he spoke it. "I just need to figure out things" he said being purposefully vague with Heimdall who had always been a good person to seek out for advice given that he was one of the few people on Asgard who had no agendas and would tell you the truth no matter who you were.

Heimdall moved to speak when his focus suddenly shifted to Asgard itself, "What is it?" Thor asked immediately noticing the change in Heimdall. Heimdall stayed silent for several seconds making sure that he was correct.

"It's the vault" he stated prompting Thor to look back at the palace "I can't see it" he finished prompting Thor to raise his hand and call Mjolnir to him, knowing that something bad was happening if Heimdall could not see a certain location. Mjolnir arrived and Thor flew off into the palace as Heimdall contemplated the situation only one person had ever managed to shield Heimdall's vision and Heimdall was beginning to think that Loki wasn't as dead as they had come to believe.

Thor flew through the air landing near where the vault was and informed the guards to wake his father and alert everyone to a possible intruder in the vault. Thor entered quickly and saw several figures looking around "I know you are here and there is nowhere for you to run" he stated causing all of the figures to stop in their tracks and look at him. They were small in size and they charged Thor as a taller leaner figure in the back started making its way towards the back of the vault with a bag.

Thor quickly dispatched the charging figures and looked at the bodies realizing that the figures attacking him were actually Midgardians. "How did they get here?" Thor thought to himself as he looked up just in time to see a shadow disappear on the back wall. "Oh no you don't" Thor shouted as he started to run to follow the shadow and get some answers. There was no way that Midgardians could get to Asgard and certainly not gain access to the vault without help from someone.

Thor rounded a corner and spotted the final member of the group of thieves, he was tall and lean with a bag in his hand. "It is over Midgardian, there is nowhere you can hide from me and the rest of Asgard" Thor stated as he held Mjolnir at the ready to throw if the person decided to run.

"Why would I worry about you finding me?" stated the man and Thor nearly dropped to his knees when the voice rang out to his ears. Loki turned and showed himself to Thor for the first time since the Raven's Spire. "You couldn't find me in the last year and you won't be finding me any time soon" Loki stated as he turned back around and began to walk through the portal to his escape.

"Loki stop, please" Thor said almost begging his brother to stay with him.

Loki turned back and smiled "No" he said as he backed up into the portal and it vanished from sight.

Odin, Sif, and the Warriors Three entered the corridor and huddled around Thor "What happened?" asked Sif seeing the confusion and heartbreak on Thor's face.

Thor looked at Sif and then at his father "It was Loki, he's alive."


	4. Always Late

Pepper looked at her watch as the media gathered in front of the stage was beginning to antsy with the waiting in the particularly warm summer day in New York City. There was a podium with the Stark Industries name and logo on it and a large red and gold ribbon that was strung across the front of the stage that was going be cut by Tony at the end of his speech announcing the grand opening of Stark Tower. "I don't understand how he is always late" she said under her breath to James Rhodes who was standing next to her.

"Yeah considering he was the one who pushed the builders so hard to get the building open on time despite having to start from scratch after the whole giant monster brawl that leveled the place" he replied looking into the sky.

Happy Hogan chirped in from behind "Besides we know he loves his entrances."

Pepper nodded as she pulled out her phone to call Tony again hoping that he had some kind of a legitimate excuse as to why he was so late to a press conference he scheduled to unveil a building that he designed and had his name on the top of it. The phone went to voicemail and Pepper was about to call the whole thing off when she heard the song "Thunderstruck" blaring and a laser beamed down and cut the ribbon that lined the front of the stage that they were supposed to cut with a giant pair of scissors.

Tony landed on the stage in his Iron Man suit and stood straight up and started waving to the crowd that was clapping and cheering him on. "Good afternoon New York City" he shouted as the suit began to open up and he walked out into the open air with a brand new outfit that he had just bought in Italy. He moved towards the podium and looked back at Pepper and the others and could see that she was clearly upset with him. He smiled hoping to break her death stare but found that his charm was not working like he hoped it would, he turned back to the crowd and gave them a wave.

He had reporters and fans alike standing in front of the building some cheering him on and others simply waiting for him to make his statement. "The world has been locked in an energy crisis for decades, and despite everyone's best efforts the answer to long term renewable power had eluded the human race, until now that is. Thanks to the breakthroughs with arc reactor technology due in no small part myself we now have a viable source of clean renewable energy. Here at the newly built Stark Tower I am unveiling the newest version of the arc reactor." The crowd erupted when Tony finished speaking, he threw up a peace sign "Stark Tower's new arc reactor has the ability to power several city blocks with efficient and reliable power that will save people money and give them power that they can rely on just like you all can rely on me to keep you safe" Tony finished as he waved and backed up as a Stark Public Relations person began to take questions and disperse the crowd.

Tony walked into the building with Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy following close behind him, Pepper handed him some papers to sign "Really? Late to the press conference that you personally scheduled" Pepper scolded prompting a shrug from Tony.

"Maybe I was rescuing a kitten from a tree" said Tony as he entered the elevator with the trio of followers. Pepper scoffed and Rhodey shook his head and Tony gave it up "Ok fine I woke up late after dinner with that super model last night" he stated prompting a sly smile from Happy and a disgusted look from Pepper. Tony gave up trying to please Pepper for now and instead turned his attention to Rhodey. "What's up buddy?" he asked.

Rhodes sighed "Well we were supposed to have a meeting right after your presentation about a joint operation between you and the US Military on a Ten Rings installation but since you were late the operation has moved forward without you and I need to get back to Washington now" explained Rhodes taking a breath and looking right into Tony's eyes.

Tony nodded "I'm sorry it was a late night but I'll make it up to you ok, I'll talk to Fury about getting you guys a few Shield agents to back your boys up and we'll hit the Laker game tomorrow ok."

"Yeah we better hit that Laker game, you owe me one after having your back at the hearings last week" informed Rhodes as the group stopped in front of the elevator and he turned to head for his car to make his flight so he could make his way to Washington.

Stark had spent the better part of the last month in a federal court trying to keep the Iron Man suit out of the hands of the government and it hadn't looked good, until Rhodes had brokered a deal that would allow Tony to work as support for the military if they needed it which was better than them rolling tanks into Malibu and taking the suit from him as Rhodey had put it. They entered the elevator and the door closed and it once began to climb towards Tony's Office on the top business floor just underneath his living quarters at the very top of the building. The elevator dinged as they came to a stop and Tony led Pepper and Happy out of the elevator and into the waiting room for his office.

His secretary handed Pepper Tony's meeting appointments as the three of them passed her and entered his brand new office. Tony took a big whiff when he entered the room "I love the new office smell" he said as he approached the windows that looked over the cityscape of New York.

Pepper set the schedule on Tony's desk "Okay I've got meetings to take care of myself back in Malibu so I'm going to leave all of this to you and I will see you when I come back in a few days" she stated as she turned with Happy to leave.

"Wait your leaving?" asked Tony turning back to face her.

"Yes, I am. You see thanks to you being here handling these meetings I have to go and represent you in a bunch of other meetings. We agreed to this yesterday" explained Pepper.

"Yes we did. I just thought that meant that you would be here doing those meetings" said Tony never liking when Pepper wasn't around.

"I think you will manage without me for a few days" said Pepper as she turned to leave and Happy began to follow her.

She entered the elevator as a bunch of people in suits exited and started talking to his secretary. Tony pulled up his schedule and realized that he was going to be very busy. "Perfect" he said to himself as the first of his meetings was sent into see him.


	5. The Raft

Steve watched outside as the Quinjet approached the Raft, he never could quite get over watching the large prison ascend from the bottom of the ocean. Shield had decided years ago that certain criminals would be too dangerous to keep in a normal prison facility so Director Fury had concocted an idea for a super prison that could hold the worst of the worst safely away from people. He looked over his shoulder and could see Natasha speaking with Agamemnon probably trying to get information from him.

Fury had been dropped off on the carrier before they completed the journey to the Raft saying that another operation needed his attention and that the three of them could handle putting Agamemnon into his new home.

"We have you on screen Eagle" came the voice of Jasper Sitwell the agent in charge of running the Raft.

"Understood waiting for our landing spot" replied Barton who had taken over the pilot seat after they dropped off Fury. He watched carefully as the Raft began to rise from its place in the ocean. Clint moved the Quinjet into position and turned it off as the door to enter the super prison opened.

Steve stood and grabbed Agamemnon pulling him away from his conversation with Natasha and leading him towards the prison. "How did Hydra learn about that shipment?" he asked as they walked through the puddles that were on the top of the raft. Agamemnon merely smiled as they walked out of the oceanic elements and entered the sleek dark halls of the Raft.

Natasha and Clint followed close behind opting to let Steve handle Agamemnon, "Does he seem agitated to you?" she asked Clint as they worked on the paperwork as Steve lead Agamemnon away from the two of them.

Clint looked at Steve and then Natasha and held up his fingers showing her that Steve was a little irritated "I don't think he likes our wonderful directors weapons plan" he said as he signed a paper and the door to the cells opened and the trio of agents led Agamemnon into the main section of the prison.

They walked through the main hall and approached the elevator, there were various stairs and passages that could get you from the top floor to the bottom but the elevator was the quickest way for sure and Steve wanted to get this job done and go home, this whole mission had left a bad taste in his mouth. When he woke up and accepted that he had been frozen in a block of ice for over 70 years working for Shield was the simplest option, Peggy and all of his friends had helped found the organization so joining up seemed like the a great idea. But after seeing the weapons that Shield was creating and how similar they were to the Hydra weapons that he had worked so hard to stop back in his day had made him question what kind of a world he was actually now being forced to live in. He looked back and could see Natasha and Clint chit chatting like nothing was going on. Had they already known about the project? Were they just as outraged as Steve was? Or did they simply not really care?

"So what's next for you?" asked Natasha knowing that her next assignment would take her to a Russian gulag to investigate some general who was attempting to build his own Iron Man suit.

Clint smiled "I'm actually supposed to get some time off so I can finally put the finishing touches on the kitchen."

Natasha shook her head "You mean the same kitchen that you have been remodeling for the past two years?"

Clint shrugged "It's not about how long it takes but what it looks like when it's finished" he replied as the duo entered the elevator with Steve and Agamemnon.

Agamemnon looked around as the elevator descended "So this is the infamous Shield prison?" The elevator stopped and Steve pushed on the back of Agamemnon leading towards a cell.

Clint and Natasha looked around as they walked the halls, they had helped to put a lot of the people in here and seeing them again was pretty creepy. Clint's attention ended up on with the creepy Irish man Arcade that Clint had taken down several years earlier. He was a thin man with bright red hair and a thick Irish accent, he had taken several college students and locked them into an arena he called Murderworld. Clint was sent in to save the kids and stop Arcade which proved to be easy compared to what Clint had been dealing with the last year or so.

"Hello, how is my sexy captor today" came the voice of Fredrick Myers causing Natasha to turn and find the assassin known as Boomerang, he had been given the name thanks to his love of using the boomerang to eliminate his targets. Natasha had taken him down a few months ago in New York right before the quarantine came down with the Vermin outbreak. She smiled hitting the knockout gas option on the cell sending Boomerang to sleep.

Steve pushed Agamemnon ahead passing the cell of Dr. Curt Connors who had spent his brief time in the Raft begging for forgiveness from anyone who would listen to him. Steve felt for the man, he had no control but he was too dangerous and needed to serve his time for his crimes. He turned to face Agamemnon towards his cell "Welcome home" said Steve giving Agamemnon a nice little shove into the cell and closing the door behind him.

Agamemnon scanned the room and took a seat on the metal bed that was pushed up against the wall. He turned and looked out the window and could see the water that functioned as a natural fence for the super prison, even if you could get out of the building you were in the middle of the ocean with nowhere to go.

Steve walked off and stood with Clint and Natasha "What's the plan?" asked Clint knowing that they needed to figure out how Hydra was able to not only hijack the ship transport but also learned about it in the first place.

Steve looked back and spoke "We let him stew for a few hours, then we'll start hopefully it doesn't take too long to get what we need."

Natasha led the others back towards the elevator "Hope Sitwell brought snacks with him when he came in this morning" Clint said as the trio entered the elevator and started heading back towards the top of the Raft.


	6. Odin's Order

Thor was pacing the throne room waiting for his father to join him and discuss the thieves in the vault, Loki had been with them and had escaped. His emotions were swirling as he was so happy to see that his brother was still alive but also he was upset that his brother was still up to his evil ways. Heimdall, Sif and the Warriors Three had calmed him after they managed to get him to leave the vault and report to the All-Father.

Sif had never seen Thor like this, she thought she had seen the worst of him right after Loki's apparent demise but with Thor rambling about his brother leading a raid on the vault and escaping had her questioning his sanity. She didn't know if Thor saw what he saw but she was going to support him no matter what.

The doors to the throne room creaked open and Odin entered to find the gathering of Thor, Heimdall, Sif, and the Warriors Three waiting for him. The guards had done a search of the throne room and brought the bodies of the thieves who didn't escape Asgard's wrath. Odin sat on the Asgardian throne and had the bodies laid out in front of the group "Midgardians on Asgard" stated Odin showing the limp bodies of the failed thieves. "It's not possible without help" he continued before turning his gaze to Heimdall. "What did you see?" he asked prompting Heimdall to step forward and stand at attention.

"I saw a blank spot in my sight my King. I saw nothing which is why I raised the alarm and Thor left me to go and investigate" explained Heimdall as Odin nodded while he spoke. "I did not see anything in the vault until after the thief escaped."

Odin sighed "What was taken?" he asked as one of the guards who cleared the vault stepped forward. "The last two Norn Stones we had left in the vault All-Father" he said before stepping back.

The Norn Stones were some of the most powerful objects that were in the vault, "Further proof that Loki is the one who robbed the vault" stated Thor looking at his father hoping that he would believe him despite Odin's belief that Loki was killed when he had fallen into the portal.

After what had happened with Loki, Odin had the whole vault checked and found that one of the Norn Stones was fake and it was believed that Loki had been secretly using one to boost his magical powers. Loki stealing the rest would make sense since he would certainly be someone who could think of a way to use the stones to his advantage.

Odin turned his back to the group in deep thought, contemplating what the best move for Asgard would be. "We cannot simply allow the rest of the Norn Stones to be used for nefarious purposes" explained Sif stepping forward next to Thor showing her support for him.

"But Loki fell into the void" stated Fandral just saying what everyone was already thinking. "Loki was powerful but falling into the void is a literal death sentence, they don't call it the void if it goes somewhere."

"No one has ever fallen into the void" stated Thor as Odin kept his back to the discussion. "Loki is extremely powerful it is not beyond belief that he could survive falling into the void."

"Is it possible that a group on Midgard has found a way to access the Bifrost?" asked Hogan. "Ever since Thor's trip to Midgard it is entirely possible that some of them may be attempting to reach Asgard." Thor shook his head taking a seat at one of the tables in the throne room.

"Are any Midgardians close to finding a way to Asgard Heimdall?" asked Odin. Heimdall seemed to be searching in his mind for the answer before sternly shaking his head no. Odin nodded before once again turning his back to the discussion.

Volstagg sighed as he turned and picked up a fruit from a bowl on a table "If it is Loki, what's the plan?" he asked taking a bite and chewing slowly. He knew that everyone was trying to figure out the answer to that question. Volstagg was still reeling from the revelation of Loki's treachery after Thor's return from banishment and was even more shocked when Odin revealed that Loki was a Frost Giant all along. Many of them had talked so much about what they would do to Loki if they had managed to take him alive that night on the Raven's Spire but now after so much time the question was a struggle to answer.

No one spoke for several minutes, Thor was lost in his own thoughts, for almost a year that night had haunted him, how he had let his brother down but now was his chance to make it right, a chance to save him. He turned his gaze to Odin who was still facing away and not saying anything.

"If Loki has truly returned than our focus must be to kill him" stated Sif with no emotion on her face. Thor turned his gaze to her and tried to control his urge to yell. "Loki has done terrible things, terrible things that he must face punishment for. If not for his connection to us we would have killed him on the Raven's Spire. It is not the popular choice but it is the right decision to make" she stated giving Thor a sorrowful look as if apologizing with her eyes. Thor opened his mouth to speak when Odin finally turned back to the group.

"Thor believes that Loki has not only survived falling into the void but has also stolen the remaining Norn Stones for reasons unknown. While I find this hard to believe, a King must always trust his instincts and I trust the instincts of my son. Heimdall begin searching all the Nine Realms for any sign of Loki, this bold of a move means he will move very soon and when he does Thor will go and bring him to me" ordered Odin.

"I would like to join him" said Sif stepping forward.

"No, this is Thor's mission. Now is not the time to put all of our eggs into a single basket. Sif and the Warriors Three you will explore the other realms and search for other possible assailants of the attack on the vault. If Thor locates Loki you will return and be prepared to assist if I deem it necessary" commanded Odin prompting bows from Sif, Heimdall, and the Warriors Three. The four of them left the room leaving Thor alone with his father.

"I will bring him home father" stated Thor.

"Sif is right Thor, Loki must face judgement for his crimes and that judgement is not mine to give" Thor came eye to eye with his father "If Loki is alive, and you bring him to me…I will hand him over to Laufey and the Frost Giants."

Thor was in shock "They will kill him" stated Thor not believing what his father was saying.

"Listen to me, there have been more confrontations with the Frost Giants in the last year than in the previous 100 years…between you chasing Ulik into Jotunheim and Loki's attack we are on the brink of war with the Frost Giants. They believe we are hiding him, handing him over to them may be the only way to prevent a war. You and your mother may not like the idea but it is the best chance we have to keep everyone safe. Now go and prepare, Loki will spring up soon and you will need to act quickly in order to find him" stated Odin as Thor nodded and started angrily making his way out of the throne room.

Thor was at the door when he saw his mother watching him and his father, he put his hand on her shoulder and moved to pass her when she whispered to him "Bring my baby home."


	7. Escape

**One Week Ago**

Dirk Garthwaite laid in his bed noting the cracks that were forming in his ceiling. Garthwaite was classic street muscle, a former high school jock who never amounted to anything and spent his days doing thug work. He had been in and out of prison over the years but getting caught robbing a bank had landed him in the big time and now he was stuck. He looked around seeing that the guard had passed his cell, that gave him 20 minutes to do what he needed to do. He shook his leg signaling his cell mate Eliot Franklin, a scientist by trade, he had been caught trying to steal his research from the company he had been fired from. Franklin was a physical specimen standing almost six foot five inches and was the smartest man in his high school, college and the company where he worked. He was the first black man to be the lead researcher in Richmond Enterprise's Gamma Radiation research. Since Garthwaite's specialty was knocking over convenient stores and banks the two of them found a common occupation to bring them together, well that and the plan they had hatched with their neighbors Henry Camp and Brian Philip Calusky to escape from prison.

Franklin stood and scanned the hall way and confirmed that the guard was indeed walking away and based on his own observations he knew that they would have 20 minutes to pick the lock to the two cells with the handmade lock pick supplied by Camp who was already hard at work on his lock. Camp was a Master Sergeant in the Army up until a few years ago when he was dishonorably discharged. "20 minutes, longer if he takes a smoke break at the end of the hall" explained Franklin looking back at the rest of the cell block who were all sound asleep or so absorbed in their own self-pity to notice the four men preparing to make their escape. Camp's skills would be critical since he had made the lock pick that would get them out of their cells.

Calusky was pacing in the back of the cell, Dirk had convinced him to join up with the other three to get out of there especially since he knew one of the gardeners from his old farm hand days who passed him a pair of pliers that the quartet was going to use to cut a hole in the outside fence in the yard and then they simply needed to avoid the man hunt until it all calmed down which Dirk promised he could help them do. "Got it" said Camp as the cell door creaked open and Camp started working on Franklin and Garthwaite's cell. A few minutes later their cell opened and just like that the four of them were out of holding and making their way to the yard even faster than they originally planned for.

Dirk smiled to himself as they moved as quietly as they could through the halls to the yard where as they had hoped nobody was patrolling. They moved to the spot they had all agreed to go through, luckily the prison that they were being kept at was underfunded and basic maintenance had been forgotten in efforts to save money and thanks to that there was a space in the fence that could easily and quickly be cut. Calusky went to work on cutting a hole in the fence that would free the four of them once and for all. "Almost there" stated Calusky.

Moments after speaking a bright light engulfed the four of them "Hands up" came the voice of the head guard Albert Rackham. Garthwaite turned and saw that several guards had been moving inside the yard from the main complex.

"We were set up" said Franklin as he turned to see the guards approaching. Camp and Calusky were standing behind Franklin and Garthwaite as Rackham headed inside to make his way down to them since he could not reach the ground from his position on the roof of the prison.

"What do we do?" asked Calusky as the four of them backed up to the fence.

"We fight" stated Dirk wishing he had his trusty crowbar with him to do some real damage with. Just as the guards were closing in a blast of energy descended from the heavens and landed between the four inmates and the guards. The four of them stood absolutely still when energy blasted out of the light hitting and killing the guards that were approaching them.

The light dissipated and a figure was standing in front of them, wearing gold armor with green leather underneath the armor. His hair was black as he turned towards the four would be escapees, he lowered his guard as he smiled to them. "I have a job for you" he said.

 **Present Day**

Dirk cracked his neck that had been one week ago and now here he was in some kind of makeshift building somewhere in Africa with the others waiting for Loki to return with what he claimed would give them everything they ever wanted. They had all reacted differently to following the Trickster, Franklin immediately began to try and figure out Loki's apparent powers with his science, Calusky and Camp were both just happy to be out of jail and free again. If Loki could deliver on his promise Dirk would do whatever Loki wanted and do it happily.

A portal appeared in the middle of the room and Loki reappeared with a smile. "How did it go?" asked Calusky as he approached Loki slowly. Loki reached and grabbed the crowbar that Dirk had brought with him and set it down on the table.

"Everyone touch the crowbar" ordered Loki as the four of them reached out and grasped the cold metal. Loki pulled out a Norn Stone, placed it on the crowbar and whispered some words as he rose his staff into the air and called as energy passed from his staff and hit the stone that quickly disintegrated and was absorbed into the crowbar and then passed to the four thugs. They all backed up slowly and could feel the power surging through them.

Franklin looked at his hands in awe as the others all tried to comprehend what was happening "How?" he asked as Loki merely smirked.

"The how is not important" Loki stated as he made his staff disappear and he turned towards the door that led into the basement that Garthwaite and his Wrecking Crew as he had begun to call his little band of escaped convicts had been watching over. "What is important is that our friend in the basement is ready to play his part and that the four of you are where you are supposed to be" explained Loki as he turned and leaned on the basement door.

"Don't you worry about a thing we'll hold up our end of the bargain boss" stated Garthwaite confidently as the others gathered behind him. "You need us to stick around?" he asked noting that Loki wasn't even really paying attention to them anymore.

"No, go and wait for my signal" he ordered as the Wrecking Crew cleared out and Loki was left to his lonesome. "Only two stones left" he said to himself as he pulled the remaining two stones out of his pocket, one had been in his possession for a very long time just to give certain spells a boost but the other was not for him.

He opened the basement door and could hear the rhythmic breathing and the words that were being spoken along with it "Breathe in, Breathe out."


	8. I Have a Hulk

Nick Fury was standing in his tactical command center in Shield Headquarters watching as Shield operatives prepared to assault a Ten Rings installation in Africa. Coulson entered behind him and his second in command Maria Hill right behind him. Hill was young, driven, and was the prime choice to take his job once Fury retired or forced to give up the job as Director. The room full of technicians typed away and ran diagnostics on all sorts of operations but several were focused on the current mission. Following the investigation into Obadiah Stane, it was discovered that his son had vanished and all of a sudden the Ten Rings was rumored to be working on something new, something new is dangerous for Shield and Fury needed to get an idea of what the Ten Rings was up to. "Are they in position?" he asked as the time clicked by, he needed to get an update from Natasha about the interrogation of Agamemnon.

"Yes sir" answered Coulson as the Shield operatives waited for the go ahead. Fury nodded "Alpha team, you are a go" stated Coulson prompting the screen in front of Fury to come alive. Shield was using one of their satellites to keep track of the operation that seemed to be going as planned. The operatives moved in and out like the professionals that they were, they grabbed the Intel they needed and were on the way out before the Ten Rings knew what had hit them.

The team fell back to the rendezvous when their extraction chopper was blasted out of the sky by something out of the picture for Fury to see. "What was that?" cried one of the techs who was analyzing the battlefield data.

"No smoke trail so it wasn't an RPG, maybe some kind of new weapon" hypothesized another.

"Figure that out later, get the secondary extraction ready and get the team moving" ordered Fury as he moved to the headset to speak with the team directly. "Listen up, move to the secondary extraction point and keep an eye out for whatever took out the chopper."

Fury got an understood from the team and watched as they started moving into a plain that led to a nearby road where trucks were waiting to move them to safety. The Ten Rings were hot on their tail opening fire as the team of seven made their way towards their escape. Suddenly all the figures stopped moving for no apparent reason. "Did our feed freeze?" asked Hill from behind Fury.

Fury looked carefully and could see something moving in the middle of all the men "Zoom in right there" he ordered pointing to the figure on the screen. The screen zoomed in and showed a man wearing some kind of armor, the figure was pale and looked up as if he knew that he was being viewed through the satellite. The man smiled as the camera pulled back they saw the figure shift and the Shield agents and the members of the Ten Rings float into the air and suddenly without warning explode as red haze fell over the African desert.

The room was in shock and then caught off guard once again when the figure from the satellite footage appeared in the middle of the room. Several agents pulled their weapons only to be brutally dispatched by the gold armored and green clad warrior whose speed was clearly more than human.

Coulson and Hill pulled weapons but Fury put his hands up to stop them, if this guy hadn't already killed them all than he obviously wanted something from them. Coulson lowered his weapon first causing the warrior to turn his attention to Hill who still had her handgun aimed at him. Fury eventually moved between the two of them making sure that he held the attention of the emerald dressed intruder.

"Nick Fury" he stated catching Fury off guard.

Fury managed to keep his surprise from showing instead going right into information gathering "Well you know my name…so how about you share yours?"

"I am Loki" he stated with a grin "from Asgard."

"Thor's crazy baby brother?" stated Coulson prompting a very scary look from the God of Mischief.

"Last I checked we have no issue with you or Asgard" stated Fury noticing that Hill had finally lowered her weapon and was closely watching Loki. Coulson had moved to a console prepared to alert the rest of the base at Fury's signal.

Loki continued to scan the room, his staff moving ever so slightly every once in a while just to remind the Shield agents that it was there and was more than ready to strike. Loki laughed lightly "Well it would seem you do now" he stated.

"What do you want?" asked Fury looking for some kind of opening. Shield had been working on ways to handle someone like an Asgardian ever since the trolls had attacked in Australia and Thor had to come and save them, unfortunately there work was not on hand to be used.

Loki sighed and relaxed his stance allowing his tall and thin frame to show "To avenge the wrongs of my life" he said with a sneer. "You will surrender the Earth to me within 24 hours or I will systematically destroy this planet and take it from you which will cost plenty of innocent lives that people like you seem to care about so much" stated Loki turning his back on the group of agents.

Fury looked at Hill and Coulson "The world is a big place, so unless you have some kind of an army to back you up then I don't think you can back your words up" stated Fury looking for a weak point.

Loki's staff lit up at the end "I don't need an army" he said turning to face Fury and the others "I have a Hulk."

Suddenly priority alerts popped up on the consoles in the room causing Fury and the others to look away for just a second when Fury returned his gaze to Loki he found the God of Mischief gone.

"What's happening?" asked Fury knowing that Loki had made his point.

"Not sure yet some kind of attack in Cape Town, South Africa" informed Hill tapping at the screen to dig for more information.

"Medics are on the way for the injured" reported Coulson as an alarm began to blaze.

"Get us a satellite over Cape Town. I want to know what is going on over there" ordered Fury.

People were screaming and running for their lives through the streets of Cape Town, Bruce Banner was confused not because he was getting flashes of what was happening but because this time was different, he could feel the Hulk's uneasiness as well. The man who had captured him in Eastern Europe had kept him locked in a basement for an extended period of time and had begged him to transform into the Hulk. Bruce resisted until the man started chanting things at him and he felt himself lose control. "Loki" kept ringing through his now trapped mind.

The Hulk tore through buildings and threw cars causing as much havoc as he could when suddenly he was engulfed in light. When the light subsided the Hulk now found himself somewhere else "London" Bruce said to himself as the monster he had worked so hard to learn to control began to terrorize the city. The light would appear every ten or so minutes and the Hulk would end up somewhere else on the globe and wreak havoc. There were so many locations that Bruce stopped bothering to keep track. Bruce could also feel the Hulk, the rage had taken it from Bruce's control and now he had to hope that Hulk would calm down or someone would manage to incapacitate the beast allowing Bruce to regain control.

"The Hulk is moving in a random and a seemingly unpredictable manner we have no way to track him and we don't know where Loki went" stated Hill, she had fought to have the Hulk brought in to be under Shield surveillance for this exact purpose, Banner had been turned and was now wreaking havoc all over the world.

Fury began to issue orders and get all Shield personnel on high alert before turning to Coulson "Round them up."


	9. First Move

To say that Tony was bored was the understatement of the week, shutting down the weapons division at Stark had proven to be more time consuming than Tony had realized when he shut it down. A little more than a year later and here he was still combing through all the projects that Stane had given the green light during his time at Stark Industries.

The final one of the day was sitting in front of him and Stark was being forced to listen to a dwarf tell him that humans needed to act quickly to avoid extinction. Stark had spaced out about 30 seconds into the presentation and now was really wanting to get this over with and move on with his day. Tony raised his hand "Mr. Trask" he stated prompting Trask to stop his presentation. "You will not be continuing work on this mutant detection system and you will be reassigned to something a little less harmful" stated Stark hoping that Trask would simply nod, thank him for a job and leave but Trask had other ideas.

"But sir I have an idea, it would build off of your Iron Man armor using that we can create robots that could help locate and remove mutants before they become a threat to society. Look at all the attacks by mutants all over the world we need to act if humanity is going to survive" pleaded Trask pulling out schematics for big robots from his bag.

Stark turned around having decided that this guy was clearly nuts and needed to be removed from any position to work with any kind of technology "Get out and don't bother trying to find a job with some other technology or weapons company, your finished Trask now get out of my office" he spat as Trask stormed out of his office shouting things at him that Tony chose to ignore.

"Sir, the winner of the Stark science fair called said he will be running late and there is a Shield agent here to see you" informed his secretary from outside his office.

Tony pulled up the screen on his computer and looked it over for a second "I think I know why go ahead and send him in" said Tony pulling out his briefcase.

Steve was about to head in to start another round of interrogation with Agamemnon when a Shield agent came running into the room where he was sitting with Barton and Romanoff. "What's up?" asked Barton standing up and grabbing a folder from the agent. Barton looked at the contents of the folder and sent the agent away with a nod.

"What is it?" asked Steve walking away from the door that led to the interrogation room.

Barton handed Romanoff the folder and looked at Steve "Looks like we are getting put on another assignment" he stated getting his equipment as Romanoff handed the folder to Rogers and checked her weapons.

Steve looked over the folder "What's the Avengers Initiative?"

Loki turned the corner into Tony Stark's office and scanned the room finding Stark behind his desk messing with a briefcase. Loki had met Stark soon after he returned from his time with the Ten Rings at a party. He had pretended to be a Shield agent and it worked and now he would do the same thing once again. Fury would move quickly now that Loki had made himself known. "Mr. Stark, Director Fury has sent me to bring you in" he said turning only to be blasted by repulsors that sent him flying through the wall that was behind him.

"Next time you try and trick somebody make sure that your face isn't being plastered on every Shield alert from here to Tahiti" stated Stark as he finished attaching his armor from his briefcase. The rest of the armor locked into place just as Loki got his bearings back, he stood and his Shield agent suit disappeared and was replaced by his green and gold armor complete with his gold horned helmet. "Nice outfit, so are you a mutant or something?"

Loki smirked as his staff appeared and he fired a blast towards Stark who narrowly avoided the attack. Stark raised his hand to fire another blast but Loki charged grabbing Stark and throwing him up through the ceiling of his office into the main living area of Stark Tower. Loki jumped up through the Stark sized hole only to find Tony's left fist waiting for him. Loki staggered back surprised how hard Stark could hit but was further surprised when a Unibeam blast caught Loki in the chest and sent him flying out of the building and the beam was powerful enough to hit a building across from Stark Tower.

Tony watched as Loki crashed into the building "Tell me I know whoever owns that building" he joked as his sensors zoomed in on Loki getting himself up. "Jarvis what does Shield have on this guy?" he asked as the short dossier that Shield had managed to upload to their database. Stark was about to move to continue the fight when Loki vanished from the building "So is invisibility listed as a super power?" he asked as he scanned for Loki.

"I have managed to locate an energy signature emanated by Loki and my sensors place him right…" before Jarvis could finish Loki attacked Tony from behind sending him flying out of the hole that Loki had made when he was hit by the Unibeam. "Behind you sir" finished Jarvis as Tony got his bearings using his thrusters to get back to where Loki was waiting for him.

So what's your play?" asked Stark hoping that Shield had gotten his alert that he had sent just prior to attacking Loki.

"I just want what I deserve" stated Loki as Stark charged trying to catch Loki off guard Loki dodged and attempted several strikes on Tony who was able to block a few of them at least. Tony reached out to attempt to throw Loki but was shocked when Loki teleported them several miles above Stark Tower.

"Holy Crap!" Tony shouted trying to switch to his thrusters but Loki proceeded to continue striking him while the two of them plummeted towards the roof of Stark Tower. Every time a thruster would fire Loki would strike it throwing off Tony's balance until just before hitting the roof when Loki teleported himself away and Stark collided with the roof of Stark Tower.

"Okay…that hurt" he said as Loki appeared a good distance from him.

"So much for the Iron Man, perhaps the others will avenge you" stated Loki as he fired a blast from his staff hoping to put Stark down for the count. The blast was about to hit the mark when it bounced back catching Loki in the stomach knocking him from his feet.

Tony looked and could see someone dressed in red, white, and blue. Steve Rogers stood up and looked back to check on Tony. "Mr. Stark" he said as Tony groaned pulling himself up.

"Cap" he replied as Loki pulled himself up.

The quinjet that Steve had come on appeared directly behind Tony and Steve with Barton and Romanoff at the controls. "Your overmatched Loki, just surrender" came the voice Black Widow over the loudspeaker on the quinjet.

"Wow, Fury sent Black Widow and the American flag to save me" joked Stark looking at Loki as Jarvis was running diagnostics seeing how damaged the suit was from the fall.

Loki smiled "Well if it isn't the soldier."

Steve took a defensive stance relaxing but also at the ready trying to keep himself between Loki and the recovering Stark. "It's getting crowded up here" stated Loki before disappearing and reappearing between Stark and Rogers grabbing both of them and teleporting them out of sight.

"Where did they go?" asked Hawkeye looking around and spotting the confused look on Black Widow's face.


	10. Mountaintop Battle

Captain America was caught off guard by the chilled air that surrounded him suddenly, he looked around and could see Tony behind him going through the same feeling he was. They now found themselves in a flat alcove on the side of a snowy mountain. He then moved his attention to the green and gold clad Loki who was breathing heavily as if moving the three of them had drained him somehow.

Loki cursed his apparent bad luck, he never had to use this much magic in a short period of time, the Norn Stone he had stolen all those years ago increased his abilities but the increase came at a cost and that cost was his body was starting to give in to exhaustion. The winds were swirling and for a brief second Loki felt like he was back in Jotunheim staring oblivion in the eye.

Tony looked around "Jarvis, get Shield our location right now" he said getting a silent confirmation from Jarvis before turning to find Loki in a stare down with Cap. The diagnostics came up for the Iron Man suit, the damage was bad but not unusable prompting him to get ready for the fight to come.

Loki shook his head and glared at Iron Man and Captain America, he knew that he couldn't take on the two of them at the same time in his current condition. Stark had proven a stiffer challenge that Loki had expected and he knew what Steve Rogers could do thanks to his infiltration of Shield.

"You good?" asked Steve never taking his eyes off of Loki in case of some kind of preemptive strike from the God of Mischief.

Tony laughed to himself "I think I can manage Capsicle." Steve shook his head and the two of them charged at Loki trying to take advantage of his apparent weakened state.

Loki spun his staff to break their charge which forced Tony to break off, while Steve as able to move around and start attacking Loki. Loki managed to block a few strikes but Captain America got enough in to stagger Loki just as Iron Man got back in the fight launching several strikes of his own. However the inexperience of Iron Man and Captain America fighting together causing them to bump into each other allowing Loki to send an energy wave sending the two of them flying back.

Steve stood up first and shook his head in disappointment as Tony stood up next to him "That went well" he said sarcastically as Jarvis analyzed Loki.

"There appears to be no power feeding Loki, according to Shield files, he is what they call an Asgardian. He appears to be related to Thor from the Avengers files Nick Fury presented you several months ago" explained Jarvis.

"Oh the one I didn't read?" asked Stark rhetorically.

Loki vanished, appearing behind Tony grabbing him around the chest and vanishing with him before Steve could react and try and stop him.

Tony felt a whoosh and suddenly found himself cold but not outside, he looked around and could see that he was in a metal tube of some kind. Loki was standing in front of him with a big grin on his face before disappearing from sight leaving Tony to his own devices.

A bunch of soldiers burst through a door in front of Tony shouting at him in Russian "Sir they are asking why you have infiltrated their submarine" informed Jarvis prompting Stark to start talking his way out of his situation.

"Sir, Hawkeye and Widow are going as quick as they can to get to Captain America even with the new Stark repulsor engines they are still hours away from getting to him. If our reading of Stark's location is correct he's not in a position to help him either" informed Coulson as Fury contemplated his next move.

"Sir, we have isolated an energy signature for Loki's teleportation ability and he seems to have returned to where he left Captain America" informed one of the technicians.

Steve spun when he heard Loki laughing behind him "Where's Stark?" he asked keeping his shield at the ready.

"Too far to help you, just like everyone you ever knew" stated Loki trying to regain some of his strength before continuing the fight against Captain America. He had studied the files regarding Steve Rogers extensively "How does it feel to wake up one day and realize that everyone you knew and loved is gone forever and you will never see them again?" asked Loki hoping to get under the super soldier's skin.

Steve stayed silent letting his opponent talk and wait for an opening to take him down and end this whole global takeover once and for all.

Coulson was yelling into a phone in Russian trying to get the submarine that Stark had been dumped on to surface so Stark could get back to help Captain America. "Listen that guy that is stuck on your submarine has enough firepower to blow a hole into the side of your sub and get away anyway so how about you do us all a huge favor and just surface and let Stark go" informed Coulson giving up on the Russian and allowing Jarvis to translate for the Russian commander.

Tony watched carefully as the commander of the sub reached for a radio and said something in Russian "They are raising the submarine sir" informed Jarvis prompting a sigh of relief from Tony.

"So how's Cap holding up?" he asked Coulson.

Captain America started to move towards Loki slowly noticing that the Asgardian was clearly trying to catch his breath. Loki scoffed the veteran Captain wasn't foolish, Loki was out of time he had to use what he had left to remove Steve Rogers from the game. "You realize that she never moved on don't you" Loki spit out stopping Steve in his tracks. Loki smirked, he had found the nerve to attack on Captain America. "She spent the rest of her days mourning you, wishing you would come. You let her down Captain...you failed her" he shouted.

Steve's mind flashed to Peggy just for a second but that was all it took for Steve to lose his control "Shut up!" he shouted as he charged at the God of Mischief.

Loki smiled and tapped into the Norn Stone "Pitiful mortal" he said as magic swirled around him and he began to float into the air "Your hope ends here…" Loki aimed his staff at Captain America who stopped in his tracks realizing the trap he had fallen into "and your meaningless existence with it!"

A beam of energy shot out of Loki's staff towards Captain America who was just able to get his shield up to block the assault.

"Where is Stark?" asked Fury realizing the trouble that Rogers was in.

"The sub is just surfacing, Loki must not have had enough energy to get me far away. I'm less than 10 minutes away" explained Stark as the sub door was about to open and let him back into the world.

"Make it faster than that Stark. Cap doesn't have that kind of time" informed Fury who was caught off guard by another alert.

"We have another signature similar to Loki's appearing several miles away from Cap's position and it is making a beeline for him" informed Hill who was reading over the technicians shoulder.

"Reinforcements for Loki?" questioned Coulson.

Stark heard the alert over the radio "Jarvis put everything we got into the thrusters I need to get to Cap right now" he ordered.

"But the suit is damaged already sir, putting that much power could cause the suit to start falling apart" informed Jarvis.

"Just do it Jarvis, Cap can handle himself but if Loki has friends coming he's going to need help and we are the only ones who can do it" he said as he flew off of the sub like a bat out of hell.

Loki could feel Captain America beginning to weaken beneath the onslaught, Loki was going to need to recover after this battle but removing Captain America could prove to be a huge win for him.

Cap cursed his hotheadedness he wasn't going to be able to hold out much longer, he could hear someone talking on the radio but couldn't make out what was being said to him.

Loki smiled widely "It's over" he said as he began the final plunge into his power to finish Cap off.

"BROTHER!" rang out in the mountain air, Loki turned just in time to see his big brother coming at him at a high speed.

Heimdall was having trouble placing Thor near Loki so he set him down as close as he could and Thor would handle the rest. Thor grabbed Loki tackling him into the mountain where he was fighting Captain America.

Cap stood up and prepared himself for everything that could possibly happen. He could hear banging as if they were fighting. "Someone else is here" said Cap into the radio. "He seems to be on our team."

Loki came flying out of the mountain and slid until he was almost over the edge with Thor landing on top of him and holding him down. "It's over brother" he said placing Mjolnir on Loki's chest and pulling the Norn Stone out of Loki's cloak after doing so he stood up to look at Captain America. He moved to speak when Iron Man arrived, his suit nearly falling apart. "Nice outfits" said Thor.

"Speak for yourself" said Stark lifting his repulsors towards Thor but was stopped by Steve.

"I think we all need to talk but how about we wait until our ride gets here" suggested Steve getting nods from Stark and Thor.


	11. The Helicarrier

Fury stepped out of the main part of the carrier into the open air of the Pacific Ocean, watching as the Quinjet that was transporting Stark, Rogers, Thor, and Loki landed on the deck. The ramp on the back lowered as the three heroes exited arguing with each other, Barton and Romanoff had picked the three of them up and approached Fury "They have been doing this since we got on the Quinjet" informed Barton.

"First it was what to do with Loki, then it was who saved who and now I'm not even sure they know what they are arguing about" noted Natasha as she stood behind Fury and Coulson as they made their way towards the Quinjet and Loki.

Thor watched as Fury approached but only noticed Coulson whom he had met in New Mexico "Son of Coul!" he shouted bringing the agent in for a bear hug.

"It's still just Coulson" he said through a smile as Thor squeezed him.

"Well I'm glad this is such a happy reunion and I greatly appreciate all of your help we will now take Loki into custody" explained Fury sending Barton and Romanoff to put Loki in the cells they had on board.

"I do not think so" sneered Loki as Thor dropped Coulson and put a hand on Loki stopping him from moving towards the agents that would take him away.

"I will be taking my brother to Asgard where he will face punishment for his crimes" explained Thor prompting sighs from Clint and Natasha.

"I like that idea ship him off into the fancy world in the sky and he can be their problem" added Stark as he watched his suit being wheeled into the carrier where he could work on it in one of the labs.

"Loki is a dangerous criminal he must be imprisoned where we can keep an eye on him" explained Rogers.

"I assure you what my father plans for Loki, he will certainly never been seen or heard from again" informed Thor.

"You are more than welcome to take him once he has arranged for the safe return of Dr. Bruce Banner" stated Fury once again signaling Natasha and Clint to take Loki away. Thor reluctantly allowed him to be taken knowing that if push came to shove he could take Loki away even without Fury's permission.

Fury could see the situation was getting tense "Let's head inside before the air gets thin out here" suggested Fury turning to walk inside.

"What do you mean by the air will get thin?" asked Rogers as the ship began to make noises and alarms began to blare.

"Wait a second, is this THE carrier?" asked Stark as he started to look around all excited.

"You mortals are easily excited" stated Thor moving to follow Fury and was quickly followed by the others.

The carrier began to move up as the four of them entered the interior "During the outbreak in New York the Helicarrier project suffered a slight setback but after some hard work its finally ready to begin operations" explained Fury as the turbine engines of the Helicarrier began to lift the behemoth of a vehicle out of the sea and into the air.

Thor watched Loki get taken into an elevator "Don't worry about Loki, we are going to take him to the Raft where he will remain until we have Banner and then you can take him back to Asgard" informed Fury.

"Jarvis run diagnostics and make sure the techs down there don't break what's left of the suit please" ordered Tony as he noted where the labs were for later when he could fix up his suit.

"What is this Raft?" asked Thor watching all of the Shield agents run around to get to their stations for the operation.

"It's a super prison where we hold our most dangerous criminals" informed Clint who was standing behind Natasha, the two of them had dumped Loki with other agents and joined them for the briefing.

"It is good to see you again Hawkeye" stated Thor with a genuine smile as he thought back fondly on their battle during his banishment to Earth.

The group turned a corner into the bridge of the Helicarrier, dozens of technicians and consultants dotted the large room with a briefing table centered near the door and just behind the commander position where Fury placed himself while everyone else took a seat at the table.

Coulson and Hill stood just off to each side of Fury with Coulson to the right and Hill to the left. "With Loki in custody that leaves just one loose end to tie up before we put this whole scenario behind us" stated Fury as the middle of the table lit up with pictures of Loki and also the Hulk.

"Finding Dr. Banner" stated Steve trying to move the process along.

"Exactly, for those of you who haven't been briefed Dr. Bruce Banner has the ability to transform into the Hulk. The Hulk is upwards of 9 feet tall and could literally tear this entire ship apart with ease. After Loki's attack on our men in South Africa, he managed to not only unleash the Hulk on innocent people but also managed to teleport him to other locations limiting our ability to contain the situation" informed Fury as grainy cell phone footage of the Hulk attacking filled up the screen.

"We've seen the Hulk in action up close and personal. Trust me you don't want to be on the ground when Banner goes green" informed Natasha.

"I fail to see why Loki must remain here with you until you find this Hulk, the longer he remains here the more likely he is to escape and cause more havoc" Thor explained.

"Yeah but let me guess once Loki attacked me, the Hulk vanished and you haven't been able to pinpoint his location meaning you need Loki to tell you where he is" deduced Stark with a smug look on his face.

"Unfortunately, yes" answered Fury. "We can't allow Loki to leave if he has the ability to unleash the Hulk whenever he feels like it."

"Ok then so what about holding Loki? If he has the ability to teleport Stark and me all over the globe, what's to stop him from escaping?" asked Steve not wanting to chase Loki down again or fight him with the Hulk backing him up.

"Loki has been using this to boost some of his magic including his teleporting spells, without it he will be unable to teleport great distances and quite frankly the battle has drained him considerably. I don't think he could teleport a few feet much less to safety" explained Thor placing the Norn Stone on the table. Thor raised Mjolnir and smashed the stone to dust making sure it could no longer be used against them or Asgard.

"So our operation here is to interrogate Loki, find the location of the Banner, and hopefully bring him in before he transforms into the Hulk" explained Fury.

"So this is it huh?" Stark questioned rhetorically. Fury looked over to Stark who was standing up. "You finally found a reason to bring your Avengers together didn't you?" he stated coming face to face with Fury. Fury nodded "So is Spider-Kid coming? I was hoping to see him sometime soon. I have all kinds of toys I would love for him to field test."

"No, Spider-Man is not a part of the Avengers Initiative and I would prefer you not interact with him unless directed to do so by me" stated Fury making sure Tony understood how serious he was.

Tony was going to push but decided to let it go "Alrighty then, I will be in the lab trying to salvage what's left of my suit feel free to patch the interrogation feed to the lab. I would really like to see what makes Loki tick" he stated as he left the room.

The others stayed put while Fury left to begin speaking with Loki. Coulson moved forward to speak with the team "Would anybody like a snack? We have vending machines down the hall."


	12. Planet Brokers

Loki still had just barely enough energy left to feel his presence within the Hulk's mind, Banner had returned to his natural human form but Loki's spell was powerful. He could feel the tormented soul of Bruce Banner as he pondered the monsters actions and realized the futility of fighting against Loki's control. Loki's concentration was broken by the door unlocking as he focused on the person who was coming to question him.

Fury sized Loki up as he approached the cell noting how calm a prisoner he was, Loki had either accepted that he would be returning to Asgard or was simply waiting like a hyena for the ambush to spring. The Hulk was that ambush, knowing that Loki might be able to unleash the Hulk at any time gave everything an added sense of pressure.

"So tell me where Banner is?" asked Fury hoping that maybe Loki might just tell him and save himself the time and effort.

Loki acted confused "Who?" prompting an annoyed look from Fury "Oh, you mean the giant green monster that I have waiting in the wings ready to strike at a moment's notice?" He smiled and then shrugged feigning ignorance.

"Fine, we'll find Banner eventually and when we do you will be taking the fast pass back home with your brother. I hear your Daddy is very interested in a family reuinion" informed Fury taking a seat just outside the cell.

Loki snorted at the mention of Odin "Odin couldn't stop me before and he won't stop me now. I've been to worlds he can't even dream about. Even ones he would forbid his precious Asgardians to go to."

"Like what?" asked Fury hoping that Loki might say something that would tip his hand or give them more of a hint of his intentions.

"You would like to know about the rest of the universe you live in wouldn't you. That's why you need to keep me on Earth, in one of your prisons, shackled like the monster I am" stated Loki staring intently into the eye of Nick Fury. "Well I won't be telling you about Banner but I suppose I could give you a little bit of information to play with. I fell into a void of nothingness last year, I thought I was dead but I awoke alive and right here on Earth. It was clear to me then that it was destiny… that Earth was the key to my ultimate revenge on Asgard. I went to a place called Knowhere where I searched for an army to take Asgard with but it turns out that Asgard is an extremely well known and well defended location and that any army would require more than just money to attempt to conquer it."

Thor sighed in frustration, he knew that Loki had been driven mad by his anger about his lineage but this was even beyond his comprehension. His brother had been attempting to raise an army to attack Asgard. Knowhere was an outpost in the middle of space that was frequented by the more seedy side of the universe, Asgardians usually avoided the place out of principal but hiring an army there could be possible but the cost was usually incredibly high.

"What kind of payment were you looking for then? If money couldn't get you the army than what would?" asked Fury knowing that if Loki was being honest he could learn a lot about the universe that they knew nothing about.

Loki smiled "The Earth" he said simply with a hint of arrogance and a smug look. The answer caught everyone off guard. "This universe if filled with people who can do all sorts of things, some of these individuals like to sell planets to other species that are looking for one."

Thor had heard tales of planet brokers before, "This can't be the same boy I grew up with as a child" he said to himself.

To call Tony Stark overwhelmed would be a huge understatement, believing that Thor and Loki had come from another dimension was difficult anyway, but civilizations beyond Earth was almost too much to handle. "It seems unreal doesn't it" said Steve startling Tony who hadn't realized Steve had come down to the lab.

Tony nodded "Gods and aliens" he said almost trying to convince himself.

Loki could see what he hoped to see, Nick Fury showed no fear or apprehension but instead intrigue. "I see that look in your face, I saw the similar expression from another human who had seen past his earthly domain into the stars. He pushed himself and his technology as far as he could push them all hoping to reach the goal of becoming a god himself."

Fury decided that if any information that Loki could give him was viable that Thor could at least decide if anything he said could possibly be true so he decided to play along with Loki. "So who was this man?" Fury asked with no trepidation.

Loki smiled "He is known in your history as the Red Skull, and last I checked you two shared similar scientific interests" stated Loki almost staring into the camera. The statement had caught Steve's attention. Tony could see that Steve had stiffened and was even more alert and uneasy than he had when he had seen him earlier. "You just couldn't help yourself could you? After all, Humanity has finally learned its place in the universe, not as dominant a position as you all once believed. Asgardians, Elves, Dwarves, Frost Giants, just to name a few species that could sweep you aside with little effort, and that's just the species that Asgard specifically deals with" stated Loki sensing that he had hit the nail on the head. "There are monsters and empires out there in the dark of space that would rend the Earth asunder."

"Enough!" shouted Fury standing up "I guess I will have to employ other methods of getting you to tell me where Banner is" he stated turning to leave the room.

"Find a solution for Project All-Father yet?" asked Loki forcing Fury to stop just for a second before leaving the room.

Coulson handed some papers to Fury "We have cleared several locations and are working to narrow down the possible locations for the Hulk" he explained as they moved through the Helicarrier.

"How long until we reach the Raft?" asked Fury as they entered the bridge where Thor was standing in deep thought.

"A few more hours and we should be in position to drop Loki off" informed Coulson heading off to check on Stark.

"How much of what he said in there is true?" asked Fury putting the papers on the briefing table and walking over to Thor.

Thor shrugged "Knowhere is a place where all kinds of nasty people spend their days, hiring an army there is possible and I have heard stories of the planet brokers that Loki spoke of although I have never met one" explained Thor.

"If he is telling the truth, we could have a problem" stated Fury as Stark entered the room.

"So this guy is nuts right?" asked Tony trying to wrap his head around everything.

Fury shook his head "Regardless if he's crazy we have to believe him at this point at least until we have Banner back in the fold."

"Where is Captain America?" asked Coulson reentering the room.

Stark shrugged and looked around "He was right behind me" he stated until they looked and saw him entering the interrogation room.


	13. Story Time

Loki smiled when he saw Steve Rogers enter the room, the near century old soldier was eying him. Steve Rogers paced in front of Loki's cell, his mind turning over and over, Loki mentioned the Red Skull, Steve may not have a full comprehension of the world he woke up to but he could tell that Loki wasn't stupid.

"Now what do I owe the pleasure of your company good captain?" asked Loki sitting in the chair in the middle of his cell.

"How do you know the Red Skull?" he asked while he paced waiting for Fury or other Shield agents to burst into the room.

Fury moved to head for the interrogation room when Stark stepped in front of him, "Let him talk to him" stated Stark prompting a look from Fury.

"Loki is trying to play us against each other. He mentioned the Red Skull on purpose, he knew that Rogers wouldn't be able to resist talking to him" informed Fury moving to go around Tony before Tony stepped between him and the door.

"Look Cap may be a lost puppy in the big city but we need to play Loki's game until we can find Banner at least until we get to the Raft were we can dump him and go look for Banner the old fashioned way" explained Stark wanting to hear the conversation just to understand what Loki could be planning.

"We are almost to the Raft" stated Coulson, "We could let Cap talk to him, maybe Loki will underestimate him he could slip up."

Fury looked around at the faces in the room realizing that he might be fighting a losing battle and he needed to keep this thing together "Fine, he has five minutes."

Steve could see Loki thinking, planning out the conversation, imagining every single response that Steve could have, an answer for every question. "I have lived a very long time, even longer than you" stated Loki. "Every once and awhile I would go and just look around in the realms for interesting things and people."

Steve took a seat and stared bullets into Loki "You found the Red Skull" he stated.

Loki shook his head "I found a world engulfed in war, while I was watching I saw someone moving in the fires of war for something grander."

"You found a monster" said Rogers with disgust.

"I found a monster surrounded by other monsters, the difference was that the Red Skull looked above the fray to something bigger. You think he simply wanted to create some kind of master race, unite the world under the Hydra banner? He knew what he had with the cube" stated Loki.

Fury looked at the screen intently at the mention of the cube, "The weapons were for taking your world but it was only the beginning. He knew that the cube was from Asgard, he wanted to get to my world, mostly thanks to my brother" informed Loki.

Everyone looked at Thor who seemed to be thinking back trying to remember something like that, "What does your brother have to do with this?" asked Steve.

"My brother would like to watch things too when he got bored the difference being that he liked to get involved instead, one such time was during a war you humans love so much" informed Loki.

Thor snapped his fingers "I remember now" he stated.

 **1910**

Thor moved quickly down the Bifrost Bridge with Loki following close behind him, "This is a bad idea" stated Loki looking around hoping that nobody had seen them and was telling their father.

Thor shook his head as he kept moving "You don't need to come with me" stated Thor who walked into the observatory without even waiting for Loki's reply. "Heimdall, we wish to journey to Midgard for a brisk evening jog" he said prompting Heimdall to turn to him.

"I doubt Midgard would have much room for your jogging right now Odinson's" explained Heimdall hoping that the two of them would simply leave.

Loki nodded "Good point, let's go" grabbing Thor's arm trying to lead him back to the Palace.

Thor yanked his arm away "The people of Midgard are fighting each other and innocent people are being caught in the crossfire. I simply wish to get some of them out of harm's way" he explained prompting a look of disbelief from Heimdall.

"More like you are looking for a fight Odinson" he stated and held up his hand when Thor moved to speak again "I have no orders to keep you from leaving Asgard and none to hold you from going to Midgard" he said as he began adjusting the observatory for a trip to Earth.

Thor smirked as he stepped forward "Thank you Heimdall" he said as Loki moved next to him. "You are coming then?" asked Thor when he saw Loki move up with him.

"Someone has to keep an eye on you" Loki answered knowing that their father would not be pleased with them when they returned.

The Bifrost opened over an encampment "Do not be gone long, Odinson's. Your father is ever watchful" informed Heimdall as the two brothers moved towards the portal.

Thor and Loki landed in the middle of the encampment, they could see guards pointing weapons at them, women and children heading for cover as more soldiers arrived. Thor whispered to Loki "Now this is not boring."

Loki shook his head "Let's get this over with and go home" he answered as the men were shouting at them in what Loki had learned during his studies was German.

Thor raised Mjolnir "I have come looking for glory mortals will you give me that?" he shouted prompting one of the soldiers to open fire. The bullets bounced off of Thor and Loki's armor and the two of them went into action. Thor moved through quickly and easily struck down soldier after soldier, Loki turned to see a young boy hiding behind a building and watching the carnage unfold.

Thor was about to continue the fight when the Bifrost opened and Odin was there to collect his children and he was not happy about it. The camp was decimated and Odin started to scold Loki and Thor for being reckless and getting involved in Earth affairs. Loki knew how this would go anyone who had seen them would have to be killed and Loki scanned the remnants of the camp and could see that there was only a handful of survivors and that was when he saw the boy he had seen hiding. Loki used his magic to create a barrier around the boy and watched as Odin took out each survivor until only the boy was left safe behind Loki's barrier.

Odin looked up and called for Heimdall as they disappeared from the surface and the boy was left all by himself.

 **Present Day**

"That boy was the Red Skull?" asked Steve having listened to Loki's story.

Loki nodded "That day little Johann Schmitt learned that there was a world beyond the stars. He put the pieces together when he got older, figured out that Asgardians were who came to the camp that day and that if he wanted to get to them he would need to have more power than humanity had to offer."

Steve stood up "So he found Erksine and founded Hydra" he said as he thought through what he had been told.

"Exactly, that Schmitt was a smart one even if he was a little delusional about his abilities. Conquering the Earth would have gained him nothing in fact my father would have been inclined to remove him from the equation" said Loki thinking out loud. "Now here we are all these years later and still humanity is still chasing after the Asgardian gods above."

"What are you talking about?" asked Steve.

Loki snickered "Fury now tries to do what the Red Skull failed to do, he wishes to reach Asgard and worlds beyond. You were watching when we talked couldn't you see the look on Fury's face when I told him of Knowhere. The need for more information just like when he learned about Thor and the rest of Asgard. Fury wants to get where we already are and he will use all the tools at his disposal to do it." Loki could see the wheels turning in Steve Rogers head "But you already learned about what Shield is willing to do on that tanker with the weapons right?" asked Loki trying to push Steve's buttons.

The PA system cracked to life in the room and the rest of the Helicarrier "We are a few minutes away from the Raft. Prepare prisoner for transport" called out a voice prompting several agents to enter the room giving Steve the chance to leave.


	14. Still Brothers

The Helicarrier floated above the Raft as it rose from the sea and awaited the arrival of the newest prisoner. Curt Connors had gotten used to the feeling of the Raft rising out of the sea and going back down into the depths, other prisoners would shout at passing guards and new inmates but Connors kept to himself. The man who called himself Whirlwind was across from him as well as the newest addition Agamemnon. Connors wondered who his new neighbor would be.

Loki was moved out of his cell after being chained up and was briskly moved to the elevator where Barton and Romanoff waited for him. He smirked when they put him in the elevator and he imagined all the damage he could do in such a small space.

As the door began to close a large hand stuck in forcing the doors to pop back open, Thor and his large frame entered the elevator "I will join you in placing my brother into his cell" explained Thor getting nods from both Barton and Romanoff.

Loki snorted as Thor entered and stood behind him insuring that Loki could try nothing in the confined area. "You still call me brother?" asked Loki not even bothering to look at Thor. "Has father not told you?"

Thor shook his head "What's in your blood does not matter to me Loki. We grew up together, fought together, no matter what we are still and always will be brothers" he replied prompting a shake of the head by Loki.

"Father must be so disappointed" said Loki in what felt like the longest elevator ride of his life.

"We were all disappointed at your actions in Jotunheim. We are almost at war with the Frost Giants who believe that we are hiding you from their judgement and then here you are wreaking havoc upon the Earth to the point that the whole Nine Realms know you are alive and here" explained Thor hoping that Loki could understand even just a little. Loki had no response or didn't care enough to give one, "Mother misses you."

Natasha saw it, nobody else noticed but her eyes could see the slight shift in Loki. It was just for one second but he recoiled at the mention of his mother "So he does have a weak point to exploit" she thought to herself.

"Did you really believe that you could trade the Earth for an army?" Thor asked.

Loki smirked as his defense went back up "I've been lied to my whole life, I would conquer 1000 planets if that was the cost for an army to take Asgard" he spat as the elevator came to a halt.

The doors opened and Thor was surprised to see Tony Stark waiting at the quinjet that they would take down to the Raft. "What are you doing here?" asked Thor still trying to figure out the small man out.

Tony shrugged "Just stretching my legs, figured I've never actually seen this big bad super prison so why not take advantage of a situation while my suit gets repaired" he said as he started walking into the Quinjet and took a seat.

The rest soon followed suit as the Quinjet took off and made its descent for the Raft, "So you like playing head games huh?" asked Tony rhetorically. Loki smirked and said nothing "Your clearly a smart guy, well at least on Asgard anyway but what I want to know is why start a fight you can't win? You clearly know who we all are and Fury's plans so why start a fight with a bunch of people instead of one at a time?" Tony asked now waiting for an answer.

Loki smiled widely but kept to himself not speaking to Stark would do more damage than speaking to him. Loki snickered as Stark's face went from prying to annoyed in a few minutes.

"Ok everyone we'll be landing in a few moments" informed Clint from the pilot's seat. The Quinjet landed on top of the Raft with the back of the vehicle opening up. Thor and Tony led Loki onto the roof of the super prison with Clint and Natasha leading the way for them inside.

Sitwell was waiting for them and started the process of finding Loki a cell, "How many prisoners in this place?" asked Tony looking around at the top of the line security.

"A little over a hundred or so" answered Sitwell happy to discuss the specs of the Raft since he was in charge of it. "We've been moving more and more prisoners in over the last few months" he explained as the door opened and Loki was moved into the elevator followed by the four heroes.

"This place is impressive" stated Thor as the elevator lowered. Loki looked back with a questioning look "It's not as secure as the Asgardian Dungeon but it is impressive." Loki smirked noting that Stark was shaking his head.

"You actually call it a dungeon?" Tony asked wanting to laugh but trying to keep his composure.

"What else would we call it?" asked Thor.

Clint chuckled at the thought that Thor and Tony were going to brain storm names for a dungeon. Natasha spoke up before the discussion started "Can we maybe have this discussion another day?"

"Gulag is always a good name" replied Tony who then took a punch from Natasha in the arm. "Fine. Later…but gulag is a good name for a dungeon."

The elevator stopped and the doors opened up to the floor where Natasha and Clint had dropped off Agamemnon with Captain America earlier. Loki was led down the hall and he looked into each cell as he passed. Agamemnon scowled at him, Arcade chuckled at Natasha, Boomerang moved to speak but decided against it when Loki stared at him.

Tony Stark stopped a cell and looked in on Whirlwind "Hey, I remember you" he said prompting a middle finger from Whirlwind. Dozens of prisoners watched as Loki was moved toward his cell. Loki was stopped and turned toward the cell and locked eyes with his new neighbor.

Curt Connors looked into the green eyes of the newest prisoner of the Raft, Connors could feel Loki looking into his soul. He had felt eyes like that before from his meetings with Norman Osborn over the course of his career at Oscorp. Loki smirked before being pushed into the cell by Thor.

"Once this Banner is back with the humans I will be taking you home" stated Thor walking away as the door closed.

Loki smirked as Thor was heading away "Project All-Father" he said prompting Thor to stop but not speak "Don't forget to ask about it" he finished as Thor shook his head and headed towards the exit. Tony moved toward the cell as if to speak but decided against it as he too headed away from Loki.

Natasha moved up "So what's the next step to your plan? You clearly planned on getting to this point, so I'm curious as to what you might be up to next."

"Curious….you think I'm going to just spill the beans to a pretty face?" questioned Loki leaning close to the see through wall that now separated him from freedom.

"No, I think you like to gloat about your accomplishments but still attempt to live up to the big brother that everyone thought was better than you. I think you love the idea of being the smartest guy in the room and yet still do dumb things, for example… I know that you have the ability to have at least attempted some sort of escape but you haven't which means you have an ace up your sleeve which by most accounts is the Hulk" explained Natasha as she examined Loki closely, she could see the brother comment had splintered his steely exterior. "I'm also fairly certain that you could unleash the Hulk whenever you want given your current status as being in a cell and showing little to no worry at all, which once again begs the question of what's next? I mean Thor already beat you and pretty soundly at that, not to mention the two humans who more than held their own against you" she stated.

Loki punched the wall between "Enough, you termagant! You know nothing of what I am capable of, the things I have down out there to get to this point. Your world will tremble at the mere mention of my name, I promise you that from the streets of New York to the slums of Rio you will see and then I will very slowly and carefully tear you and your friend's limb from limb."

Natasha smiled "Rio huh? That's a very specific location" she said as Loki's lost the smirk he had been wearing after he finished his threat. "New York is a big place and you started this whole thing in Africa but you jump to Rio, not Russia or Australia or China but Rio" Loki could see the wheels turning in the spies head. "Very interesting" she said as she turned to join the others and pulled out her radio. Loki stood in silence as she walked away "The Hulk is in Rio" she said looking back at a dejected Loki.

Loki watched the elevator head back to the surface and turned away from the camera watching him before he smiled.


	15. Project All-Father

Tony could see that Thor was deep in thought about something "What's up?" he asked as they exited the Raft and headed for the Quinjet.

Thor looked around and could see Barton and Roman off prepping the Quinjet and talking to someone on the radio. "Something Loki mentioned…Project All-Father" answered Thor.

"That name mean something to you?" Questioned Stark as they neared the Quinjet.

"It's what they call my father Odin" he answered as Natasha approached them.

"We are leaving for Rio immediately, Fury wants everyone on board and ready to deploy when we arrive" she informed them, she turned and went back to the Quinjet without waiting for a reply.

Steve was on board the Helicarrier sitting in the briefing room with Coulson and Fury "Yeah they made a whole set of Trading Cards back during the war, I found some in a garage sale when I was a kid. So do you think you could sign them for me? They're vintage" Coulson explained as Fury began speaking with Hill.

"Sure I can do that for you, no problem" replied Steve noting how much happier Coulson seemed to be. He was taken aback by the request he was never really asked to sign anything before. He saw Tony enter and push some technician off of his station and start typing away at his computer and Thor following behind him making a beeline for Fury.

Fury looked up as Thor entered the room with a determined look on his face, "What is Project All-Father?" he asked loudly prompting everyone to look up at them. Natasha and Clint entered the room taking up spots on either side of Thor but keeping a distance.

Fury furrowed his brow and shrugged his shoulders "No idea what you are talking about. I think Loki mentioned something like that too" he replied turning his attention back to Hill.

Thor grabbed Fury's arm and turned him back to ensure that he had his attention "My brother did mention it to you and me now what is it?" he asked again but certainly with more force.

""I'm telling you I don't know" replied Fury with conviction as all the Shield agents on the bridge were now watching the conversation.

A screen lit behind Fury as plans and objectives streamed across "Sorry what were you lying about?" stated Tony as he pointed everyone's attention to the screen. Steve stood up and Tony almost skipped over to the console "Let's see here, yup Project All-Father" he said as he tapped the screen and documentation flooded the space.

"Fury" said Steve his own way of demanding an answer.

Fury shook his head "You know that Loki is playing us against each other that's the only point of any of this."

"Regardless I'm still interested and I bet a big flying hammer to the face that this big hunk of muscle is interested too" stated Tony as he looked over the files.

Fury sighed in defeat, he walked past Tony and Thor "Almost a year ago a man fell from the sky. A man who claimed to be a god from another dimension, now as you can imagine that sent the powers that be into a fit. They demanded answers to questions I couldn't give them, and naturally we found ourselves looking at possible invasion scenarios and our options" he explained.

Thor moved forward "My people mean you no harm" he stated.

"But we don't know that do we? The human race has met two people from Asgard, you and your brother and by my calculations that gives the Earth a 50/50 shot of going to war with people we know nothing about and based on what you and your brother have done we wouldn't stand a chance against" Fury shot back.

"Is that what the Hydra weapons are for?" asked Steve already knowing the answer.

"That was phase one, an immediate option for defense in case we are attacked by Asgard or any other alien species. Since Thor here as confirmed without a shadow of a doubt that these forces exist it means that there is a chance they could get here" explained Fury.

"So what's All-Father about then?" asked Stark.

"It's not a complete finished plan yet… we don't know nearly enough about Asgard to actually use it" stated Fury clearly hoping that would somehow lessen the news of what Project All-Father was. He looked around and could see the stern faces on everyone's face. "It's a plan to get to Asgard and take Odin prisoner if we found ourselves at war with Asgard" he said seeing the various looks on the faces around the room. Barton shook his head, Stark chuckled at the absurdity of it all, Steve and Natasha both were stone-faced, and Thor's face was covered with anger.

Thor's arm seemed to move in slow motion as it reached out and grabbed Fury by the throat, all the Shield agents drew their weapons but Fury waved them off "How dare you even speak of holding my father."

Stark simply stayed put while Steve moved into action grabbing Thor's arm and pulling it down slightly to grant Fury some air to breath with. "Everyone relax" he stated as Fury gasped.

Thor sighed before releasing Fury completely who grasped his throat and coughed "I will honor our agreement and allow you to keep Loki until you have brought the Hulk into custody but you will do that without my help. You can also expect that my father will not handle this news very well" he said before storming out of the room.

The room stayed silent as Fury coughed, "That went well" said Stark clapping his hands together.

"Why is everything a joke to you?" asked Steve turning his attention to Stark.

"What? Like you haven't been wanting to see what was really going on here with Shield. Even good guys have skeletons in the closet and I bet this is only the tip of the iceberg for Mr. Fury over there" Tony replied.

"I think it's more about making all of this about you just like everything else is" stated Steve stepping towards Tony.

"Oh wonderful I love getting advice from the elderly" stated Tony with a smile.

Steve shook his head "Your father would be so disappointed in you."

Tony's face got serious "Don't you worry about that Captain Rogers…. He was" Tony said exiting the room.

Steve sighed looking around and seeing Hill and Coulson checking on Fury as Natasha and Barton went off to get ready for Rio. "You should be more trusting of your friends" said Steve as he started to leave the briefing to suit up.

Fury coughed "You think I wanted something like this, my job is to stop wars before they happen to ensure that humanity continues to exist as it does now. We have to be ready for all possibilities."

"How's that working out for you?" asked Steve disappearing from sight.


	16. He Needs Something

Thor was staring out of a window as the Helicarrier moved towards Rio where they were going to capture the Hulk. He was lost in his own thoughts, the Midgardians had betrayed his trust and he would need to explain it to his father. Odin wouldn't do anything drastic but cutting off all travel to Earth would certainly be done. He would never see Jane again and worse then Earth would become a prime candidate for some of the more aggressive species out there like the Dark Elves or worse the Frost Giants.

Thor was so lost in thought that he didn't hear Agent Phil Coulson enter the room "Sorry I'm interrupting" he said while knocking on a wall to get Thor's attention. Thor didn't answer verbally but did nod at Coulson giving him permission to speak. Coulson stepped forward next to Thor "If it helps I'm sorry that Project All-Father exists."

Thor looked at Coulson who attempted to smile in hopes of lighting the mood "I thought humanity above this sort of thing" said Thor dejectedly. "My interactions with your people have been almost universally positive but now Fury and his other possible plans worry me."

"I don't blame you for that" said Coulson. "Humans fear what they don't understand and lash out when they are challenged. Other worlds and races is old for you but very new for us, we need time to adjust to this new world we are living in." Thor looked out over the sea and could see land in the distance "I hope you'll reconsider your decision to not help with the Hulk operation. I have a pretty good feeling we are going to need you" stated Coulson as he turned and made his way back to the bridge.

Thor watched him leave and sighed "Just focus and getting Loki back to Asgard" he said to himself "Just so father can hand him over the Frost Giants and death" he finished shaking his head in disappointment.

Natasha and Clint were in the hanger preparing the Quinjet that would take them down to the city where they would begin the operation. "So what do you think about what happened up there?" asked Clint loading up his quiver.

"About what?" she replied as she prepped the Quinjet.

"This whole All-Father thing…seems pretty messed up doesn't it" he said taking a seat as Natasha worked.

Natasha sighed "Does it really matter? We do a job and we go home, the right or wrong of it all isn't that important" she answered looking at Clint who was thinking.

"Maybe that's part of the problem" he said "Thor hasn't done anything but help ever since he arrived here last year."

"And his brother has caused nothing but death and destruction since he arrived here. We need to be prepared for the worst case scenario, just like Fury always is" replied Natasha.

"I know that's why Fury's in charge and why Shield works as well as it does but now here we are about to get into it with the Hulk like before except this time he won't be fighting a monster, he will be fighting us. Cap and Stark are good at what they do but they haven't seen the big guy in action like we have. We are going to need Thor" reasoned Clint thinking back to the battle between the Hulk and Emil Blonsky 6 months ago that decimated Harlem and leveled the construction of Stark Tower.

Natasha sighed "I agree with you okay, we need Thor but unless you have an arrow in there that is going to make Thor forgive and trust Shield enough to fight then we are on our own and will have to make do with what we have."

Clint nodded "I know, just would prefer to have all the chips on our side."

"I know" she replied.

Stark put the finishing touches on the repairs for his suit "Jarvis get the package ready, I doubt this baby is going to fly me home once this is all over" he stated noticing that Fury had entered the room. "Looking for forgiveness or something because I'm not a priest or very forgiving for that matter" he said without turning to look at Fury.

Fury shook his head "I'm here to simply pick your brain on something Stark" he stated causing Tony to stop for a brief second before finishing his work. "I heard you mention earlier that you think Loki is up to something bigger than this. What did you mean?"

Tony turned to look at Fury "Fine" he said putting his stuff down "Loki could have started this whole thing on his own terms, could have picked us off one by one and by the time we would have realized what was happening it would have been too late."

"Right" said Steve from the door way in his full costume.

Steve entered and got the death stare from Tony "Except he didn't do that, he showed himself to you and unleashed the Hulk on cities all over the globe and then started coming after us, why would he do that? Why tell everyone your coming?" Tony said taking a seat as his suit rebooted.

"He wanted to make a point" said Fury brainstorming out loud.

"Maybe but killing us all could do that and hand him the planet" said Tony shooting down the idea.

"He needs something from us" stated Steve looking at Tony.

Tony snapped his fingers "Exactly, Loki needs or needed something from Shield, it's either that or the man has a death wish" He said checking the suits diagnostics before starting to suit up.

"Well we better figure out what he wants or we will be in a world of hurt" stated Fury "I'll get some of our agents looking into anything that we have that could help Loki you guys need to get on the ground and wrangle up Banner. The longer he is unaccounted for the more worried the Council will get and that is very bad for us" he said leaving the lab and heading towards the bridge.

Steve and Tony looked at each other and nodded "See you on the Quinjet" stated Steve turning to leave.

"Yup see you there" Tony replied.

Loki was sitting with his eyes closed in his cell, the heroes had fallen for his trap and now he simply needed to spring it. He reached out with his mind and found the Norn Stone he had left on Banner who was curled up in a corner of a shack hoping that Loki had forgotten about him "It's time" he whispered into the mind of Bruce Banner.

"No, please no" Bruce said.

Loki smirked "One last fight ahead for you Hulk and then I will be finished with you" said Loki as he reached out with his magic and force the transformation.

Bruce could feel his skin warming up and the rage building spontaneously, he started banging his head against the wall hoping to knock himself unconscious to prevent the transportation, it had worked a few months earlier in a different situation but it was too late. Bruce was no longer in control of the monster within, the Hulk was coming.


	17. Battle in Rio

"Ok listen up, we have Shield assets on the ground ready to deploy to get civilians out of the area when the fighting starts but we have to find Banner first which could prove very difficult" stated Fury over the radio as the Quinjet carrying Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow and Hawkeye departed from the Helicarrier hanger and made its descent to Rio de Janeiro. "First things first find Banner so we can start moving the civilians out and then take him down hopefully without making him angry" ordered Fury.

"Your suit's seen better days" remarked Captain America to Iron Man who shrugged his shoulders.

"It's not like we have much choice since the demigod decided not to come and play with us today" explained Iron Man.

Cap nodded and turned his attention to the front of the Quinjet "Any specific idea on how to bring down the big guy?" Black Widow asked.

"Unfortunately no, it took a building to pull that off and last I checked Stark isn't building any towers nearby" replied Fury.

"Very funny" Iron Man said following a fake laugh. "Try using the scanners on the Helicarrier I upgraded it while I was fixing up my suit search for residual gamma radiation. Banner was the Hulk for a few hours he should still have some gamma radiation at least in his general area."

"On it" said Coulson over the radio.

"Okay once we have a location we can figure out where to engage him to avoid civilians" stated Captain America.

"This isn't some base or boat that we are fighting on here. This is a city and a big one getting civilians out of the way will be nearly impossible in the time frame we are going to have" replied Iron Man as his suit closed up and started moving towards the exit.

"Stark is probably right, we have to assume that civilians are going to be in the way" said Black Widow as she left the co-pilot seat and made her way to the back with Iron Man and Captain America.

"I know that, which is why when this thing kicks off I need you and Clint to make sure the civilians are out of harm's way as best you can. Stark and I will handle the Hulk, I need you two to handle organizing the Shield assets and getting the people out" ordered Cap prompting nods from Black Widow and Hawkeye who landed the Quinjet.

The doors opened and Iron Man shot into the air and started scanning the area "We got anything yet?" he asked talking to Coulson.

"The biggest concentrations are coming from the Favela near your location" informed Coulson "We can't get a smaller area than that."

"Okay, I'll see if I can't get us a smaller area but the Favela is going to get messy here" said Iron Man as he flew off over the collection of shack housing to get a better idea where Hulk was.

"Shield assets are evacuating the Favela as best we can but it's going to be hard to get that many people out when they don't really want to go" stated Fury over the radio.

Cap, Black Widow and Hawkeye made their way to the Favela "Of course he's hiding in the one of the most populated parts of the city" remarked Hawkeye as they rounded a corner and found themselves entering the Favela.

Black Widow started shouting in Spanish at the people and Cap surveyed the area "The Hulk could do a lot of damage here" he said to himself noting all the people around them. "There are kids down here Fury" he said over the radio.

"We are doing the best we can here Cap. We need time" replied Fury. Thor was listening thanks to the ear piece that Coulson had left him just before the Quinjet left the Helicarrier.

Iron Man continued to scan but couldn't seem to find the source of the residual gamma radiation "This isn't working" he said thinking to himself, "Shield has been able to track Loki's teleportation right?"

"Yes sir" replied Jarvis.

"Let's try that…maybe we can trace that" remarked Iron Man as the suit started scanning. The suit pinged as a small spot of the teleportation appeared on his screen "Bingo, I got something guys moving in" he said.

"Stark wait, let me get to you to back you up" said Captain America over his radio as he started looking in the air for where Iron Man was heading.

"No time, I got this just get the civilians out of the way" Iron Man said as he landed in the street as people started to run in opposite directions from him. "Well at least they are leaving" he said as he started scanning more closely. "Ok, Banner is definitely here. Just need to figure out where."

Captain America sighed in frustration "Let him do his thing Cap, Stark might be a jerk but he is a genius" stated Hawkeye as people ran by them following the various Shield agents that were ushering them out of the danger zone.

Iron Man was scanning when he felt the ground shake "Did anyone else feel that?" he asked over the radio.

"Feel what?" replied Black Widow.

"Oh dear" Iron Man said just as the shack behind him exploded into millions of pieces as the Hulk burst through sending Iron Man into another shack in front of him. Iron Man stood and could see the Hulk looking around as if looking for a target "Oh wonderful" he said to himself as he flew a few feet off of the ground and fired a repulsor blast hitting the Hulk in the face.

The Hulk turned his attention towards Iron Man and growled before charging at him, Iron Man was able to avoid the hit but the Hulk was faster than he had anticipated forcing Iron Man to fly faster. "What's going on up there Stark?" asked Cap over the radio. Iron Man fired a few more blasts hoping to keep the Hulk focused on him and off of the civilians running around.

"He's chasing me, should be able to keep him busy but you better find us an empty place to take care of this" said Iron Man as he dodged another grab by the Hulk.

Cap looked around and saw what appeared to be a make shift playground and soccer field "It will have to do" he said looking the area over. "Tony, there is a soccer field near my position east of you, the area is clear enough get the Hulk here" ordered Cap as he jumped down and was quickly joined by Black Widow and Hawkeye. "Okay some kind of ambush is our only really shot here, you two take flanking positions on either side and get your biggest firepower ready to go" ordered Cap as the two Shield agents took their positions.

"This isn't going to work, Jarvis there has to be some kind of way to shut the Hulk down" he said as the files of what they knew about Loki popped up on Iron Man's HUD, until the section about the Norn Stones caught his attention. "I wonder, Jarvis scan the Hulk and see if you can find anything giving off any of Loki's magic" instructed Iron Man as he rose out of the heap of shacks and into the air followed closely by the Hulk. He pushed the suit as hard as he could "Will be in the field in less than a minute" he said over the radio wanting them all to be ready for them.

He went over the last part of the hill when he felt the intense pressure on his left leg, Iron Man looked back to find that the Hulk had grabbed him out of the air and was now pulling him down to the Earth.

Hulk took Iron Man and bashed him into the ground three times, the Hulk let out a cry before hurtling the demolished suit into the distance.

Captain America watched as Iron Man landed on the soccer field with a thud and slid through the ground coming to a stop less than twenty feet from more shack housing "Stark" he called over the radio.

Iron Man groaned "Still breathing but I got nothing left to fight with" he said as he went into saving what he could. He was able to transfer Jarvis into the helmet and also pop the suit allowing him out of the trashed unit. He felt a rush of fresh air engulf him as he rose and popped the helmet off of the suit.

The Hulk landed in the soccer field and let out a roar in the suitless Iron Man's direction "Oh crap" he said to himself as the Hulk charged. The Hulk was moving quickly when a red, white, and blue shield flew into the Hulk's jaw.

The blow clearly did little damage to the Hulk but it stopped running towards Iron Man and was now watching as the shield bounced off of his jaw and back towards a running Captain America who jumped into the air in the moment of confusion and delivered a knee to the Hulk's left eye. The Hulk groaned and took a swing at Captain America but missed as he weaved his way around the Hulk's massive body delivering blows along the way.

Cap knew this was not going to work in the long term, someone needed to figure something out while he distracted the Hulk. Hawkeye watched with an explosive arrow notched in his bow but knew that any explosion would do little to nothing to the Hulk but make him angrier, and it would possibly do substantial damage to Captain America. He looked across the way and could see Black Widow moving up to a higher vantage point.

Widow looked around spotting some very shoddy electrical cables running around the soccer field probably providing the little bit of power that the favela actually had. "If I can get the Hulk to touch the bad side of a broken cable, it might be enough to at least wound the green beast" she said to herself seeing that the Hulk was starting to get closer to getting his hands on Captain America.

"I think I have an idea" said Iron Man into the radio, "Hawkeye I'm going to need you and your sharpshooting and Widow I need you to help Cap distract the big guy" he shouted as Hawkeye moved from his position to join Iron Man, and Widow jumped on the power cable causing it to snap as she swung down to the soccer field.

Cap moved around and stopped when he saw Black Widow sprinting towards the Hulk, Cap managed to get the Hulk's attention which allowed Widow to run on him from behind. The Hulk raised his fist when she thrust the cable into the Hulk's back sending an electrical current through the Hulk's body. The Hulk grunted in pain as Cap rolled by him and joined Black Widow "Good thinking" he said as he watched the Hulk reacting to the electrocution.

Iron Man was watching the display as Hawkeye joined him "What's the plan?" he asked knowing that time was running short.

"Okay, Loki is using a Norn Stone to set the Hulk loose right?" he said as he reconfigured the helmet of the Iron Man suit. Hawkeye nodded "Then if we destroy the Norn Stone which I'm assuming is on the Hulk's body, it will hopefully at least break Loki's control and allow the Hulk to calm down" theorized Iron Man.

He looked to Hawkeye for confirmation "Makes sense to me" Hawkeye stated as he pulled an arrow from his quiver.

The power in the cable ran out as the electricity stopped coursing through the Hulk as he turned around and placed his attention and Captain America and Black Widow. The Hulk moved quicker than either of them could anticipate as Cap grabbed Widow in one arm and raised his shield with the other as the Hulk punched sending the two of them flying into a shack across the way.

The Hulk then turned its attention back to his original target, Iron Man who was mesmerized as the Hulk charged him once again. Hawkeye pulled his bow "Ok what am I aiming for?" he asked as he aimed at the Hulk.

Iron Man looked at the scanner using the helmet "It's close to finding it" he said as the scanner zeroed in on the Norn Stone.

"Too late" shouted Hawkeye as he dove away and the Hulk raised his fist ready to crush Iron Man.

As the clenched fist of the Hulk crashed down around Iron Man with his shadow blotting out the sun in Iron Man's vision, a hammer flew in and smashed the Hulk in the chest sending the large beast flying across the field and into some nearby shacks.

The hammer then came back past Iron Man who turned to find Thor with a stern look on his face and he walked past Iron Man towards the recovering Hulk. "I made this world a promise" he stated as he marched forward with Mjolnir in his hand "I promised that I would defend them from anything threat, I cannot allow you to threaten the people of this planet any longer creature." The Hulk blasted his way out of the shack debris and roared at Thor. "I am Thor, the god of thunder and I will defeat you" he shouted as he leapt into action as the Hulk charged.

The two super being collided and as they caused each other to fly back in opposite directions, Thor recovered first jumping into the air and delivering a strike with Mjolnir on the Hulk's right shoulder, the blow hurt but the Hulk quickly recovered with a swing of his left arm which caught Thor and sent him for a loop.

Iron Man's sensor went off pinging the location of the Norn Stone "Hawkeye, it's in the Hulk's left pant pocket" he shouted as he ran over to check on Black Widow and Captain America. "You guys okay?" he asked kneeling next to them as they pulled themselves out of the debris.

Cap and Widow nodded they were okay and turned their attention to Hulk and Thor, "So how is this going to end?" asked Widow as Thor caught Hulk with Mjolnir.

"Not good for anyone around here" answered Cap.

Thor swung with Mjolnir again but was taken by surprise when the Hulk ducked underneath the swing and delivered a massive uppercut sending Thor into the air. "This is Hawkeye just got into position and looking for the target" he said over the radio.

Thor was dazed when he felt the Hulk grab his foot and slam him into the earth several times before throwing him back into the collection of shacks. Hawkeye was about to take the shot when the Hulk threw Thor and soon gave chase as if he was playing catch with himself.

Thor landed with a slide and the Hulk was on him in an instant delivering several strikes, pounding Thor into certain oblivion. Hawkeye could barely see the Hulk and he assumed Thor from his position. He readied his bow "Can you make that shot?" asked Cap over the radio watching Hawkeye and the ongoing battle.

Hawkeye smiled "I got him" he said as he let the arrow fly.

Thor looked up and as the Hulk prepared the final blow until the monster stopped itself. Thor could see the questioning in the Hulk's eyes, the Hulk was doubting what was happening, the beast did not understand why.

The arrow zipped through shack after shack, clotheslines, curtains, and anything and everything in between but it found its mark as it stuck into the Norn Stone in the Hulk's pocket.

The Hulk and Thor both looked at the arrow and back at each other just as a massive energy wave blasted out sending the two super beings flying.

Captain America and the others sprinted to where the battle had ended and found Thor and a meek Bruce Banner. Widow and Cap checked the two of them confirming that they were both alive. "Hulk has been neutralized" informed Captain America noting that he hadn't heard from Fury or Coulson in quite a while.

"Get back to the Quinjet right now, we have a massive breakout at the Raft" informed Fury.


	18. Breakout

Loki looked around his cell, awakening the Hulk had been easy thanks to the Norn Stone he had left with the green giant but now he needed to act quickly. He reached on the back of his neck and activated a relay point that he had hidden behind his hair knowing that Shield and his brother would not think to look for technology on a magically inclined prisoner.

Elliot Franklin was sitting on a boat in the middle of the ocean when the transmitter started to relay a location for Loki. He signaled Dirk Garthwaite who followed the location as Franklin worked his magic on the computer. The group now calling themselves the Wrecking Crew were enjoying their new powers but they needed to finish this job with Loki before they could really do what they wanted to do. A few minutes of searching finally gave Franklin what he needed a signal that he could hack to gain access to the Raft.

Loki leaned toward the transparent door that led into his cell and looked over spotting his neighbor Curt Connors. "Good Evening" he said prompting Connors to look at him and then turn away. "Surely you might be looking to make friends in here, since we will be here a long time after all" hissed Loki.

"Leave me alone" stated Connors without even turning to look at Loki. He could still hear the Lizard deep in his psyche, the doctors at the Raft had been showing him how to resist the physical urges of the Lizard but he couldn't drown out the beast in his mind and he couldn't stop seeing all the lives he had taken during the outbreak in the city.

"You know I read about you, the mad scientist who brought New York City to near destruction. I must say it was all very delightful" said Loki with a slight smile.

"Delightful?" hissed Connors turning quickly and pushing himself towards the entrance so he could stare into the green eyes of the God of Mischief. "None of it was delightful, I killed people, ate them for that matter. I am a monster and I will never allow that beast to rule me ever again" he stated proudly waiting for Loki to back off.

Loki applauded "I see it inside you, the reptile just beneath the surface. It's simply waiting for you to give up, to surrender to beastly instincts inside you." Loki leaned in close "The Lizard is still hungry Curt and I'm going to feed him."

Curt shook his head, "It will never….." Connors stopped midsentence as he felt his insides churning "What are you doing?" he asked and fell to the floor.

"Just lending the Lizard a hand" stated Loki with a smile. Connors started to scream at the top of his lungs.

"Sir, Connors seems to be transforming into the Lizard" said one of the guards who was watching the cameras.

Sitwell leaned over his shoulder and activated the pacification system "Get agents down there now" said Sitwell watching the screen carefully.

Loki watched as smoke filled Connor's cell, he could barely make out the human form of Connors give way to the giant Lizard. Agents stopped just in front of the cell wearing riot gear as they loaded their weapons and prepared to enter the cell. "Give the pacification system some time to take effect" ordered Sitwell over the radio.

Franklin was in he had hacked his way into the Shield systems and could see that a specific section of the prison was on red alert "I'm assuming that's were Loki is" he stated out loud activating the protocol for the Raft to rise out of the sea. Garthwaite positioned the boat they were on over top the prison and waited.

Sitwell started to panic when the Raft started the ascension protocol. "What the hell is going on here?" he said getting no answers from the agents with him. "Reverse the protocol" he ordered.

"Sir, we can't the system has been locked out" shouted out the agent in control of the ascension protocol.

Franklin laughed "Let's make things a little easier" he said as he accessed the lockdown protocol for all of the cells, he smiled as he deactivated the system causing all the doors in the Raft to unlock and open.

The guards looked around as the cell doors opened "What the hell?" one shouted as several prisoners looked out. Arcade, Boomerang, Agamemnon, and many others started to peek out of their cells. The Lizard's cell opened as the pacification smoke spread out around the feet of the agents who were watching the mist. Loki leaned out "I think you guys should probably run" he stated just as the monstrous form of the Lizard dove out from the smoke and attacked the agents.

The Lizard dispatched the agents quickly and turned its attention to Loki who reached out with the mind control magic that he had used on the Hulk. The Lizard was more instinct than brain which would make the creature infinitely easier to control and a monster like that would come in handy with what he needed next.

The Raft rose out of the sea and caught the boat that Garthwaite and Franklin were sitting in "Perfect" said Dirk as he leapt out of the boat and grabbed his crowbar that he kept after Loki gave them their power. "Did you bring me something to use?" asked Franklin as they approached the entrance.

Garthwaite looked back "Huh, I didn't think that far ahead" he said "And no more names call me Wrecker and your Thunderball got it?" he said as he used the enchanted crowbar to break open the doors that led into the Raft.

Thunderball scoffed as they entered, he looked around and found construction equipment, and he spotted a demolition ball connected to a chain. Thunderball smiled as he lifted the ball and chain "This will do" he said as Wrecker started pounding on the doors. "Hope Piledriver and Bulldozer are getting the job done right."

Camp and Calusky approached the entrance to the lab that Loki had ordered them to take, if everything was going to plan Loki and the others were assaulting the Raft. Muir Island is where they had been sent. "So Bulldozer, what is the plan again?" asked Calusky.

Bulldozer sighed in frustration "Well at least you remembered my name finally. Well Piledriver, we get in and steal this circle thing from these guys and meet the others at the rendezvous point" explained Bulldozer.

"Right gotcha" answered Piledriver with his country accent sneaking through his words. The two of them moved quickly after they saw Shield Quinjets take off and fly into the distance, Bulldozer gave the go ahead sign as the two newly powered criminals headed towards their objective.

Loki watched as prisoners of all shapes and sizes started making their escapes, Whirlwind was spinning his way around hitting several agents as Loki was led by the Lizard to his objective "All of your things are being held in that vault" Loki shouted as they approached the armory. All the prisoners surrounded Loki and the Lizard who growled at anyone who got too close to Loki. "Shall we gentlemen?" said Loki as he summoned his staff and blew open the doors to the armory.


	19. Growing Pains

Tony was working franticly trying to salvage what he could to get his suit up and running for what was coming up next. Steve scanned the Quinjet, they hadn't even bothered returning and they had the unconscious Bruce Banner handcuffed in the back right next to a still knocked out Thor. "Not optimal" Steve said to himself as he realized that it was going to be the four of them trying to contain a massive super being breakout.

It didn't take Steve and the others long to figure out that Loki had been behind the break out but the two accomplices who managed to get inside the Raft systems and fight their way in was unexpected. Now they had lost contact with Sitwell, the man in charge and were now flying in blind with two assassins, a super soldier and a billionaire genius with a broken Iron Man suit.

Fury was following behind in the Helicarrier but their Quinjet was faster than the Helicarrier was and they needed to act quickly to contain the breakout. Steve was hopeful that Thor might wake up before they arrived since an Asgardian would go a long way to making this easier. But here they were making the final approach to the Raft.

Tony suited up and could immediately tell the suit wasn't going to hold up very long under any kind of pressure situation "You don't have to do this Tony" stated Steve as they began landing on the Raft.

Tony looked over at the high and mighty Captain America, the guy who his dad had ranted and raved about from the day Tony was born to the day he died in that car accident with his Mother. "I'll be fine…besides I couldn't stand an old man like you getting all the glory and credit" replied Tony as his Iron Man face plate dropped hiding his expressions. "Not that you could afford to tell not to fight after all, 3 vs an army of criminals are worse odds than 4 vs an army."

Captain America sighed "I suppose your right….How many shots do you think the suit can take?" he asked noticing the small sparks of electricity and wiring that were sticking out of the suit not to mention the occasional piece of duct tape.

Iron Man shrugged "Small stuff shouldn't be a problem but anything more than that and I'll probably down for the count. Are we sure we can't wake up Hammer Time back there?"

Cap looked back and saw that Thor was still out after his battle with the Hulk and the subsequent explosion from the destruction of the Norn Stone. "Nothing we can think of quickly enough" stated Cap as the Quinjet touched down.

"Locked down the Quinjet. This bird isn't going anywhere" explained Hawkeye as he joined the two costumed heroes.

"We just have to hold on until Fury arrives with the rest of the backup. We contain the big players, small fry can be recaptured pretty quickly and easily" informed Black Widow who walked by the trio and led the way into the Raft facility.

Cap, Iron Man, and Hawkeye followed the former ballerina into the Raft entrance. The red alert lights were lit as they approached the check in station, "Where are the agents in charge?" asked Captain America as he scanned the room.

"Detecting lots of heat signatures down the elevator shaft and these doors were clearly bashed in" explained Iron Man as he plugged Jarvis into the main computer system.

"The system was hacked by an outside source which activated the ascension protocol and unlocked all the cells in the facility" explained Jarvis as they looked down the elevator shaft.

"The Agents and guards wouldn't have stood a chance against that kind of an onslaught at once" stated Hawkeye.

Cap looked around and spotted emergency stairs "Ok, Iron Man stay here and make sure nobody comes up this shaft. The three of us will take the stairs and make our way down to the cell block where all the heat signatures are once we get there, Tony can join us for the fight" explained Captain America.

Iron Man raised his hand "Or I could fly my way down scout the place and see what we are dealing with and go from there" he expressed prompting an eye roll from Captain America.

"Look there has to be someone who makes the decisions" said Cap looking at Hawkeye and Black Widow for support.

"When did we decide that those were your decisions to make?" asked Iron Man who was upset by the fact that Captain America was already making his way to the stairs and was quickly followed by Black Widow. Hawkeye looked at Iron Man and shrugged before following Widow and Cap.

After almost ten minutes of waiting "Jarvis, where in the facility are they?" asked Iron Man growing impatient.

"They are still ten floors from reaching the cell block where the criminals appear to be amassing" informed Jarvis prompting an eye roll from Iron Man.

He shook his head "Screw this" he said as he jumped into the shaft and used his thrusters to slow himself as he approached the cell block. He stopped at the elevator doors and pushed his helmet close to the door so he could get an idea of what he was dealing with.

Loki had gotten what he needed but Wrecker and Thunderball had damaged the elevator during their entrance and now the elevator was locked at the bottom of the facility which meant that now Loki needed to find out a pass code to open the door to the stairway since the doors were not responding to the Wrecker's crow bar.

Loki scanned the room noticing various criminals of all kinds of abilities and powers, they had spilled their abilities to the Loki after he had helped them get their various equipment and had orchestrated the opening of their cells. Flint Marko was on the run for several years when he fell into a radiation test and his body was bonded with sand allowing him to turn his body and bond with any sand he touches. He had been working for various mob bosses as an enforcer when the NYPD with the help of Shield captured him, he had been known for wearing his green striped sweater with khaki pants and being called the Sandman. He was more than willing to help Loki if it meant escaping the Raft.

Another criminal more than happy to help called himself the Hydro Man, Morris Bench had been working on a science vessel as crew when he was knocked overboard during the testing of a generator which bonded his molecules with water which allowed him much like Sandman to turn and combine his body with any semblance of water. Those two were little use to Loki outside the Raft but the Avengers would be arriving very soon and he was going to need all the fire power he could get his hands on to get out of the Raft and finish his plan.

Iron Man reached between the elevator doors and pulled them open and spotted Loki with the Lizard by his side. "Good evening ladies" said Iron Man as he hovered several feet above the top of the elevator doors. Some of the criminals were caught off guard while others simply moved closer to Loki who they knew was the one in charge at this point. "Listen up everyone, get back in your cells and we can pretend this whole riot escape thing didn't happen" he offered trying to buy time for the others to arrive.

Loki smiled "I think we have this handled Stark" he said just as the Lizard started to move toward the flying Iron Man. Loki put his hand on the Lizards shoulder "No, not yet" he whispered as the Lizard backed off. "Besides you have opened up the way out for us" he stated with a sly smile.

Hydroman launched himself in his liquid form at Iron Man who expertly dodged, Boomerang panicked and sprinted toward the door that the Wrecker and Thunderball had been working on opening. "I'm getting the hell out of here" he shouted to the others as Wrecker and Thunderball came to Loki's side along with the Lizard. Iron Man sent a shot of repulsor at Hydroman who dissipated and then returned back to his normal form. Boomerang yanked on the door hoping to get through and was quite surprised when the door came barreling out of the wall and landed on him.

Captain America, Black Widow, and Hawkeye burst into the room, Cap scanned the room and could see that the situation was not optimal. While most of the prisoners did not seem to have abilities enough of them did and quite a few of the ones that didn't were very skilled.

Arcade looked around "Let's make a break for the stairs" he shouted with his Irish accent. "There are too man…" he was silenced quickly by an arrow latching onto his forehead and electrocuting him causing him to lose consciousness.

Cap and Widow looked at Hawkeye who shrugged "Guy always creeped me out" he said before sending arrows into the crowd of prisoners.

Iron Man saw that Hydroman dove for the elevator shaft and propelled himself up the shaft to possible freedom. Cap rolled underneath Iron Man "Nice job sticking to the plan, now there are two ways for the prisoners to escape" he said as he took down two prisoners who had charged him.

Black Widow used her Widows Bite to incapacitate a prisoner only to turn around and find herself face to face with Agamemnon. "Well, well, well" he said as he smirked and circled her. "Looks like we have a fair fight on our hands this time."

Agamemnon threw a punch which was quickly countered by the Black Widow as the two began to strike and counter each other. Wrecker and Thunderball looked at Loki who along with the Lizard as they moved on the outside of the main skirmish. "We should probably go with them" mentioned Thunderball getting a nod from Wrecker as they started heading towards Loki and the Lizard.

Hawkeye saw Loki moving "Guys the big fish is about to leave the fishing grounds" he said over the radio sending more arrows and then using his hand to hand combat to take down some other prisoners.

Iron Man looked and saw Loki and flew between him and the elevator shaft "Where do you think you're going?" he said raising his repulsor.

Loki smiled "I'm just taking a few of my friends out for some fresh air" he replied as Iron Man was tackled by a rush of sand that pinned him to the back of the elevator shaft. Iron Man grunted as the suit was starting to shut down.

Loki led the Lizard, Wrecker, and Thunderball into the shaft as the Sandman solidified and turned himself into a sand elevator and started lifting the group up the shaft and up to freedom. "Loki is getting away" shouted Iron Man just before the suit lost power and the Sandman left with the others.

Cap looked and saw Sandman disappear up the shaft and sprinted for the stairs and started making his way up hoping to cut them off. He started to leap up the flights of stairs hoping to make up the time he would need just so he could buy time for the Helicarrier to arrive.

Black Widow had seen everything unravel before her but luckily her handling of Agamemnon was not unraveling at all. He was good but she was by far and away better as she simply waited for him to swing wildly as she quickly wrapped her legs around his chest and flipped him to the ground before locking in a rear naked choke. "See you when you wake up" she whispered as Agamemnon passed out.

Hawkeye looked and saw dozens of prisoners following Cap up the stairs "We can't stop all of them" he said as he ran into the stairs followed closely by Black Widow.

Loki stepped into the fresh air of the ocean as the waves crashed along the Raft as it sat exposed in the open sea. He looked around seeing the boat that Wrecker and Thunderball had used to get here and started to reach out with his magic. He could see Wrecker and Thunderball looking around waiting for an escape route. He turned around to find Captain America staring at him "It's over Loki, there is nowhere to run" he said as dozens of criminals appeared following the hero up to freedom but were now distraught to find no escape.

"Over? You actually believe that?" Loki could feel it now the magic swirling in his body, Piledriver and Bulldozer had done the job and now he was almost ready. The prisoners spread throughout the top of the Raft intermingling around Cap and Loki who were locked in a stare down.

"Stand down" rang out from above as the Helicarrier lowered from the clouds as Nick Fury spoke over the loudspeaker. Hawkeye and Black Widow came up to Cap's side.

Loki smiled and closed his eyes and focused his magic "Brother" he heard from the Quinjet the Avengers had come, he turned and locked eyes with Thor who seemingly just woke up. He smiled once again before harnessing his magic and connecting with all of the prisoners on the roof including the Sandman who seemed to be getting ready to go after Thor. Blue light encapsulated the roof of the Raft, "Loki no" Thor shouted throwing Mjolnir which hit nothing after Loki and the prisoners vanished from sight.


	20. Rest Up

Steve was sitting in the briefing room waiting for the others to join him, Natasha and Clint were still down at the Raft making sure all the prisoners that had not escaped were placed back in their cells while Thor said something about needing to think before heading off to the edge of the Helicarrier and just staring off into space. Stark had dragged his Iron Man suit to the lab and Bruce Banner had been taken to an unused room on the carrier to recuperate. Fury walked in and spotted Steve "How are you feeling?" he asked as he moved across the room and looked out over the agents working throughout the bridge.

"Been better. How many escaped?" asked Steve knowing that he wasn't going to like the answer.

"Just about everyone from Loki's level and a good percentage of everyone else but we'll get them back in their cells once this business with Loki is finished" stated Fury directing the Helicarrier to start moving away from the Raft.

"Do we know where he went?" asked Steve.

"We tracked his teleportation magic to New York City but our agents there only found the Raft prison jumpsuits and various crimes committed in the surrounding area, not to mention that there was more magic than normal so we think he did two jumps. I'm pretty sure that Loki didn't stay around and he didn't take his new found inmate friends with him" explained Fury turning to look at Steve.

Steve sighed before standing up "Where are you going?" asked Fury as Steve started walking out of the room.

"To check on my team" responded Steve leaving Fury by himself.

Coulson walked past Steve and joined Fury in the briefing area, "Sir, we have the list of things stolen from the labs on Muir Island" bringing the list to Fury. "We have also identified the guys helping Loki and we are positive that the things they stole are meant to play a role with whatever Loki is planning" explained Coulson as Fury read over the stolen items.

Steve came to a stop in the lab where Stark was nowhere to be found "Where is Tony?" he asked one of the men looking at the Iron Man suit.

"Needed a shower, got sand in places man was not meant to get sand" stated Tony walking back into the lab with a towel.

"How's the suit?" asked Steve seeing that the suit was in pieces and clearly had no power.

"Trashed, completely unusable" said Tony as he lifted the helmet up onto the workbench and started tinkering with it.

"How are you doing?" Steve asked as he walked around the lab and could see that Tony had been working nonstop since arriving on the Helicarrier to keep his suit up and running.

"I'm fine, just waiting for my next shot at Loki" he stated as he took a chip out of the Iron Man helmet and stuck into a computer. He turned and looked at Steve "Look, I've been through quite a bit the last day or so with the realization that there are gods and magic isn't just something clowns do at birthday parties. But I can handle it, I have my latest prototype on the way here and I will be ready to take on Loki when he resurfaces" Tony stated turning back to his work without waiting for Steve to reply.

Steve nodded "Okay, if you say your good than I'll take your word for it but listen if this whole thing is going to work and we are going to stop Loki…I need you to start acting like your part of a team and not just Iron Man" Steve boldly said before turning and heading out of the door and leaving Tony to think.

Steve moved through the Helicarrier spotting Natasha and Clint talking to each other in the barracks. "How are you two holding up?" he asked.

"We're good, why? what's up?" asked Natasha prompting looks of readiness from the two Shield agents.

"I was just checking on you guys with everything that's been going on. People from other worlds things like that" stated Steve surprised how laid back the two agents were treating the situation.

Clint laughed "Cap, we literally were caught between two monsters fighting in New York, I've fought a god in hand to hand combat, and we've trained with a super soldier from World War II. I think we can pretty much handle anything at this point."

Natasha smiled "We got this under control. All I'm worried about is how we are going to stop Loki, the way he ran from the prison and mix that with the break in at one of our Shield facilities who knows what we might be dealing with" she explained as she fine-tuned her equipment.

"Break in?" asked Steve.

"Yeah it would seem that the guys associated with our favorite trickster busted into a Shield facility and managed to get out with some equipment. Coulson was still collecting information when he told us what happened" explained Clint as he started pointing out things to the other agents running around the rooms.

"Where is Banner?" Steve asked wondering what Loki could have needed from a Shield facility.

"Fury had us put him into one of the unused rooms here in the barracks, didn't want him to wake up in a cell and Hulk out" stated Natasha as she made her way past Steve and into the hall. "Get some rest Steve, we might not get much of a chance once Loki makes his move" she stated as she left Steve and Clint.

Clint was already laying down in bed and playing on his cell phone "She's right Cap, rest up. Thor said Loki would need time to recuperate after moving that many people without his Norn stone" he explained while he tapped away on his phone.

Steve nodded and left the barracks and started making his way to his room. He looked inside and decided to take a walk and get some air before resting. He made his way outside into open air and silently thanked Fury for lowering the Helicarrier back onto the sea just a short while ago in order to make sure everything was working properly.

Steve took a deep breath and could feel the ocean air enter his lungs, he scanned the deck and beyond all the agents doing their routine checks before the shift change, he spotted the armored body of Thor. He walked over to the thunder god and could see that Thor was deep in thought.

"Can't sleep?" asked Steve noting how Thor looked at him with clear distress. Thor nodded "Nothing quite like fresh air to clear your mind right?"

"Yes, I suppose you are right" replied Thor, the two of them had not really spoken after their introductions on the way to the Helicarrier earlier in the day. Thor took in the form of Steve Rogers, he was large for a human but not for an Asgardian. He was clearly a leader of some kind given how everyone seemed to look at him for guidance other than Stark and himself.

"Any idea what Loki's next move is?" asked Steve hoping that Thor could give them insight into Loki's mind.

Thor shook his head "No idea. If I knew what was in my brother's mind all of this could have been avoided" he stated. "All I can tell you is that Loki will need time to gather his strength back the kind of magic he is using will be wearing him out we should have most of tomorrow to prepare for his next move" explained Thor as Steve nodded.

"Okay then there isn't anything else we can do tonight then so get some rest Thor. We are going to need all hands on deck tomorrow" Steve said as he turned and made his way back inside.

Thor sighed, he was struggling with what he should do with Loki. Their father would send him to the Frost Giants and Loki would certainly be killed which Thor didn't want and he could not leave him with the Humans who would also certainly kill him. Thor cursed his luck, if only he had grabbed Loki before he fell into the void on the Ravens Spire, maybe everything could have been different. Thor started making his way to the room the Son of Coul had shown him, "Loki has to pay for what he has done" he said to himself while thinking "But can I sentence him to die?"


	21. One of Them

Loki looked over the equipment that Bulldozer and Piledriver had brought to him from the Shield facility on Muir Island. "Well done" he stated as he started working on the advanced weapon.

"What is all this stuff for?" asked Wrecker as he leaned forward which caused the Lizard to hiss and act aggressively towards him.

Loki raised his hand signaling the Lizard to back off "This machine is the key to my plan" he replied.

Thunderball looked it over "What does this Shield tech do?" he asked as he looked at the device. The machine was a circle piece with circuitry sticking out of it and it was connected to a stand piece. The machine was also connected to a computer that was monitoring the system and based on everything Thunderball could see it was fully functional.

"This machine was designed by Shield to reach my home, I'm going to use it for something else" explained Loki.

"Does this green freak need to be here?" asked Wrecker looking warily at the Lizard who showed its teeth and quietly hissed.

Loki laughed "Feeling threatened?" Loki continued working while he spoke "The Lizard is the extra muscle I need. The heroes will still come for us and once this machine is operational they will come and come quickly" he explained.

Bulldozer and Piledriver walked to stand behind Wrecker and Thunderball as they looked closely at the Lizard. "This machine of yours. You say it was designed to take someone to Asgard but you want to do something else with it. What exactly are you planning?" asked Thunderball.

Loki sighed "The universe is far larger than any of you can possibly understand, forget Asgard, Earth or any other known planet that you know of. There are worlds, galaxies, and beings more powerful than any of you can even begin to imagine and I intend to get their attention" stated Loki.

"That's all well and good but what do we get out of that?" asked Bulldozer from the back of the group.

Loki laughed "You will get a front row seat to the beings that will hand me Asgard and the Earth and all of you will be very rich and powerful for aiding me" Loki explained knowing full well that the four humans he endowed with powers were not going to be factors much longer but he still needed them to deal with the Avengers while he worked. He looked and could see the Lizard scanning the area around them, Lizard would need to be his ace in the hole. The heroes would learn the creature's history and try not to hurt the mild mannered Connors, Loki would need to capitalize on this extra time to get the portal open.

"That sounds great and all but this here machine doesn't seem to be working" noted Piledriver.

Loki looked back at the weapon that Shield had created based off the weapons Hydra had made back during World War II. Loki began to reach out with his magic and could feel the power source from the weapon, if Loki was right then the power in the weapon would be enough to make the machine work.

The Wrecking Crew watched in awe as the weapon began to take itself apart and a blue ball of energy spilled out of the weapon and hovered in the air and started making its way towards the machine. "What the hell?" said Wrecker as he pulled up his crowbar and prepared himself to use it.

Curt Connors watched through the eyes of the Lizard, he always hated it being forced to watch as his animalistic alter ego wreaked so much havoc. The months sitting that cell and trying to deal with everything he had done in New York and swearing that he would never let the Lizard out again and here he was playing guard dog for a psychopath from another world who was plotting global domination. He watched as the ball of energy made it to the machine and entered the slot where a battery of some kind was supposed to be placed.

Loki knew he was right and this was going to prove his theory about the source of the weapons power. The machine shook as it took the power from the energy and the computer it was hooked up to jolted to life. Loki smiled reading the screen and seeing that the machine was charging.

Wrecker pulled the rest of the Wrecking Crew away from Loki "Okay guys, we are fast approaching our chance to get out of this whole deal and do whatever we want" he explained prompting smiles from Bulldozer and Piledriver.

"Can we really leave? If we leave Loki, he might lose to the Shield flunkies and they probably already have a pretty good idea who we are. There isn't anything we could do if Loki doesn't win since they will be on us the second we get within view of a camera or cell phone" he explained prompting the smiles to be replaced with groans.

"Damn it all. Your right we need to ensure that Loki succeeds or we all end up back in the slammer" stated Wrecker turning back to see Loki typing away and the Lizard watching the machine in a daze.

Connors studied the machine closely, he could only really watch and remember when the Lizard was calm and he knew there would be no time later. Machinery was never his strong suit but he was a smart man and could at least get some kind of an idea on how the machine worked and maybe how he could stop it. The Lizard's senses picked up the Wrecker approaching but luckily the Lizard saw him and his band of thieves as no real threat and Connors could keep studying.

"Well who are you big guy?" stated Wrecker trying to get the Lizard's attention.

"Leave the beast alone" spat Loki as he worked. "Secure the area. Once this machine reaches near full power Shield will know where we are and they will get here fast. We will need to buy time for the machine when they get here. Once the portal is open everyone will know of this place and I will have my revenge" ordered Loki as the Wrecking Crew walked away.

After the Wrecking Crew disappeared from sight Loki sighed "I knew it, the Tesseract is one of them. This is more perfect than I could have imagined" he said to himself not realizing that the Lizard was listening intently.


	22. Recruiting Pitch

Bruce Banner awoke with a start, he was in a bed this time and the room he was in appeared to be very minimalistic. He stood up and scanned the room spotting a door, he pulled it open to find a long metal hallway. He was about to walk out when people turned the corner prompting him to duck back inside the room.

Bruce sighed and approached a window to find that he was clearly at sea, "Perfect nowhere to go even if I could figure my way out of here" he stated as the door opened. He turned with a start to see a man he remembered seeing on television in Japan. "Tony Stark" he said as he looked around the room.

"Perfect we can skip introductions then" Tony said as he set a tray of food on the table next to Bruce's bed. "Brought you breakfast."

Bruce eyed the tray and suddenly felt his stomach grumble before he sat on the bed and started devouring it. "I'm the first one here aren't I?" asked Tony looking around.

Bruce pondered what he meant but chose to finish his eggs and bacon first "So I have to ask as a scientist. What's it like turning into a giant green rage monster?" asked Tony with a smirk.

Bruce swallowed his food "Terrible" he said without another word while continuing his breakfast. Bruce wanted to ask the question but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

There was a knock on the door and Bruce was taken aback by the sheer size of the long haired blond man "Hello, Banner. I'm Thor, it was a glorious battle between us perhaps one day we will settle the winner in a less populated place" stated Thor prompting a laugh from Tony.

"Pretty sure the good doctor had you beat there Point Break" he stated as the door opened with Steve, Clint, and Natasha entering the room and introducing themselves to Bruce.

Bruce was still sorting his thoughts from his time as the Hulk but the people looked very familiar, he was getting flashes of them fighting the Hulk. "You're the ones who stopped the Hulk" he stated prompting nods from the rest of the heroes.

"Now we are here to figure out what we are going to do when Loki makes his next move" explained Natasha as she took a seat at a table.

"Why here?" asked Bruce looking to all of them one by one.

"Because we need you Bruce, Loki has us reeling and he will be waiting for us to come after him and we need an ace in the hole that can even the playing field for us" explained Steve taking a sip of a terrible cup of coffee made by Tony.

"We felt that you, out of just about everyone aboard this ship would want a shot a Loki after all" said Tony leaning against the wall.

Bruce stood up and walked towards a window that looked out over the sea "I can't, it's too dangerous for the Hulk to be around anyone. He's uncontrollable and I will not risk the safety of others. I'm sorry" he finished just as Fury's voice echoed over the intercom.

"All Avengers report to the Bridge for briefing" the voice called out prompting the Avengers to say their goodbyes to Bruce and make their way out of the room.

Tony looked at Bruce as he was walking out "You should really stop by Stark Tower, well you already have once but still I think you would really like it. It's got all kinds of toys you would really enjoy playing with" he stated not wanting to leave Banner behind. Banner made no movement or sound "You realize that Hulk didn't kill any civilians during his rampage right?" asked Tony rhetorically knowing that Bruce would be itching to know how many people were killed during his transformation. "Plenty were injured some even critically but not one fatal injury among all of those people and cities."

Bruce started thinking to himself questioning how the Hulk could have caused so much damage and not killed anyone. "Know what I think?" asked Tony standing in the door way "I think the Hulk knew something was wrong with what he was doing and couldn't stop himself but couldn't let innocent people get killed because of it." Tony turned to leave the room and grabbed the door "Maybe you should trust the big green guy a little more" he said as he closed the door and made his way to the Bridge.

Fury watched as everyone took a seat at the Briefing table on the Bridge with Stark coming in a few minutes behind them. "Here is what we know" he said pulling up a screen in the center of the table where everyone could see. "The individuals helping Loki are a group of escaped inmates from a prison in Georgia. Dirk Garthwaite, Elliot Franklin, Henry Camp, and Brian Calusky or Wrecker, Thunderball, Bulldozer, and Piledriver respectively."

"History of powers?" asked Steve as he looked over the screen at the four men.

"Not when they were incarcerated, but they escaped a little over a week ago and based on the reports and the fact that they are working with Loki, I would assume that a certain God of Mischief helped them escape" informed Fury as the screen came to life with footage of the Wrecking Crew using their powers.

"The first two were at the Raft with Loki" stated Clint "Where were the other two?" he asked.

"They were busy attacking our Shield facility on Muir Island" explained Fury. "They stole a few projects before disappearing soon after Loki made his escape from the Raft."

"What did they take?" came the voice of Bruce Banner from the door way causing everyone to look back at him and get a smirk out of Tony.

"Thanks for joining us Dr. Banner. They took an experimental weapon that we have been working on" explained Fury.

"One of the Hydra weapons you've been working on?" asked Steve with a hint of anger dripping off of his voice.

Fury sighed "One of our new prototypes, the ones you stopped from being stolen were the old version. These new ones were designed to be better and now Loki has one for himself."

"Just one?" asked Natasha, "That facility probably has at least a few dozen prototypes in it why would he only take one?"

"That is the question, Romanoff" stated Fury. "They also took the generator that we were going to use for Project: All-Father."

"What?" stated Thor loudly from his seat at the table.

"Wait a second, Loki got here without using the Norn Stones or a portal why would he need to get an experimental transport system to go back to Asgard?" pondered Stark looking over the screen at the machine.

"Without the Norn Stones maybe he's too weak and he's trying to make a break for it" said Clint openly brainstorming.

"He just transported a small army of prisoners off of the Raft and then dumped them in New York. I don't think he is running" explained Natasha shooting down Clint's idea.

"Well keep on thinking about that. Dr. Banner. I could use your help with saving someone who Loki took with him from the Raft" explained Fury prompting Bruce to step forward.

"What is it?" asked Bruce with a perplexed look on his face.

"The Lizard thing right?" asked Stark remembering the large reptile that was next to Loki during the whole Raft incident.

"Yes, Dr. Curt Connors transforms into the Lizard and he was forced into a transformation and then controlled by Loki similar to how you were with the Hulk" explained Fury sliding a folder of Connors research to Bruce. Bruce opened the file and started piecing together Connors research "We need you to recreate the Lizard cure, we weren't able to completely reconstruct it after the New York Outbreak and I was hoping you might be able to at least give us something to bring him back to his human side" explained Fury as Bruce nodded and read through the research notes.

"Give me a few hours and I should have something for you" said Bruce as he made his way to another desk and started writing his own notes.

"Wait a minute, Loki said he had Planet Brokers waiting out there right?" asked Steve getting nods from everyone. "What if the portal isn't being pointed at Asgard but at them? What if Loki is bringing his army right through our back door."

"I have never met these planet brokers and I have met many species but I am inclined to agree with you Captain, Loki must be pointing the portal somewhere he has allies it's the only explanation for taking the portal generator and going so far as to grant powers to humans" stated Thor.

"Perfect, so now we have to worry about portals opening up to god knows where for god knows who. Guess everyone is trying to move into Mr. Rogers's neighborhood" joked Stark as he looked over Bruce's shoulder.

"You think Loki is hiding in Captain America's neighborhood" exclaimed Thor standing up from his chair.

Steve looked around "I do live in a rather shady side of Brooklyn" he stated prompting a giggle from Clint and a disappointing shake of the head by Natasha.

"No, not that Rogers…It's an old kids show that was really popular back in the day, I'll find you a video or something after all this gets settled" explained Tony as Bruce got up and made his way to the lab.

"Work quickly doctor…we don't know how long we have until Loki is ready to go and we have to be there to stop him" stated Fury as Tony followed Bruce.


	23. Mark V

Loki watched the machine intently, the power within building and building. Shield would know where they were soon and the Wrecking Crew would need to be ready. He looked around at the castle he had found seemingly out in the middle of nowhere, but Loki could feel the power in the area just like at the Ravens Spire in Jotunheim, they wouldn't be disturbed before the machine was ready and that gave them an advantage.

Loki scanned and spotted Wrecker talking with the rest of his crew about this or that "Prepare yourselves, Shield will be coming very soon" Loki instructed as the Wrecking Crew got up and started taking up their positions.

The Lizard was sitting in a corner as the reptilian mind battled for supremacy with the human mind of Curt Connors. The Lizard could not resist Loki but Connors was trying to keep the creature calm or else it would lose control and possibly run off and create more havoc than it was already involved in.

The computer hooked up to the machine started beeping prompting Loki to check the screen, the machine was coming close to critical mass bringing a smile to Loki's face. "Soon" he said to himself.

Maria Hill was filling out a report on the Avengers Initiative when a technicians screen lit up with a dot on a map "We have a location" called out Coulson as he pulled out his radio "Everyone suit up and meet on the deck."

Tony and Bruce were in the lab when the call came down "See you out there" Tony said making his way towards the door and up to the deck.

"You guys are sure about this?" asked Bruce feeling apprehensive about unleashing the Hulk in any circumstance.

Tony turned around and walked towards Bruce "Trust me if anything was ever a code green, this is it."

Steve made his way on deck with his uniform on and found Thor, Natasha, and Clint all waiting for him ready to go. Steve acknowledged the three heroes as he looked back to find Bruce and Tony following close behind him. "Thought you had another suit?" Steve asked as Tony got close to him.

Tony looked at his watch "Should be arriving right about…" a metal pod loudly approached the Helicarrier landing on the deck just a few feet from everyone "Now" stated Tony as he approached the pod opened to a new Iron Man suit.

"Everyone meet the Mark V" Tony beamed as the suit opened and he leapt inside "Cutting edge stuff in this baby" Tony boasted walking towards the group in the suit.

"Please be careful sir, none of this equipment has actually been tested" added Jarvis inside the helmet.

"Thanks for worrying mom" replied Tony. "I got missiles, new more efficient and powerful repulsors, and Unibeam cannon. Not to mention the various defensive capabilities like flares, smoke grenades, and a lighter and tougher armor plating that will let me move faster but still take a hit" he explained like a used car salesmen.

"Glad you brought the bells and whistles Tony" called out Fury over the radio as Coulson arrived and handed everyone a tablet except Tony who could use the HUD in his helmet to follow along.

"The Portal generator has reached critical mass and is now giving off a signature we can follow. We have tracked it and therefore Loki to Garrett Castle in Scotland" informed Fury as the Avengers loaded onto the Quinjet and started making their way to Scotland. "We estimate a two hour time before the generator will be able to work effectively which should leave you roughly thirty minutes to stop Loki before the portal opens" informed Fury as schematics of Garrett Castle appeared on the screens.

"How do we shut it down?" asked Steve.

"I was hoping that Stark would have something for us on that front" answered Fury.

"Unless there is a button that says off I need to see the thing to make that kind of call, since Shield never actually got it to work any number of things could happen" informed Stark.

"Like what?" asked Clint as he loaded up his quiver after finding good vantage points he could use to get a quick survey of the battle.

"If the portal is stable there should be a way to shut it down but if it's not stable it could grow substantially over a short period of time and tear the whole area apart. If it's left on for too long it could become self-sustaining which would keep us from shutting it down and we might be looking at a portal to the middle of nowhere in Scotland for the rest of history. Not to mention that this kind of buildup could easily turn the portal into a never ending buildup of pure energy that could easily explode and disintegrate all of us" finished Stark.

"We get the picture" stated Natasha "Are the Wrecking Crew and Lizard still with Loki or have they bailed on him?" asked Natasha going through the area on her tablet.

"Thermal imaging places the Wrecking Crew and motion pictures place two more figures which we are assuming are Lizard and Loki" informed Fury.

"Speaking of the Lizard, I finished the work on the cure for the Lizards transformation but it won't work for more than just this one time and Tony managed to get the cure into a set of three darts that his armor should be able to deploy and hit the Lizard with" explained Bruce as Tony put up a thumbs up.

"So Stark will return the Lizard to his human form while we handle Loki and his Wrecking Crew" stated Thor getting nods from the rest of the group.

"Okay everyone that's all the briefing we can give you right now, the future of our planet is on the line here and I'm counting on the six of you to handle this" explained Fury before the line cut out.

The Avengers sat in almost complete silence as the Quinjet flew through the sky and approached Scottish airspace. The Quinjet landed and the six heroes stood up "Oh crap" shouted Tony getting everyone to jump ready to fight "I forgot that I was meeting the science fair winner before all of this started. I really hope Pepper rescheduled him." Everyone relaxed and Steve chuckled.

"Alright everyone we have just about a half an hour before the portal goes critical, stay sharp and work together" advised Steve as he hit the button to open the door to the Quinjet.

"After all of this is over, party at Stark Tower, everyone comes no exceptions" informed Tony as the Quinjet door lowered and touched the ground.


	24. Wrecking Crew

Captain America took his first step out of the Quinjet and led the rest of the Avengers towards the castle where Loki was held up. They stopped less than fifty yards away from the building "Recon?" asked Black Widow as she scanned the area looking for possible traps or lookouts.

Cap shook his head "No time, we have less than half an hour to shut this down, Bruce hang back until we need you. No need to have the Hulk smashing things until we absolutely know we do" he ordered with a nod from Bruce who took a knee.

"How will I know?" Bruce asked trying to look surer of himself.

"Trust me, you will" answered Cap.

"Do we have any kind of plan here?" asked Hawkeye as he double checked his arrows.

"Hawkeye go get up to the second floor and enter there, Black Widow will follow with me through the front door" ordered getting yes sir's from Hawkeye and Widow.

"And what about me?" asked Iron Man with a hint of annoyance leaking through his tone of voice.

"Shock and awe kind of entrance Iron Man" stated Cap with a smug looking prompting a grin from behind Iron Man's face plate.

"When the fighting ends leave Loki to me. We have unfinished business" stated Thor as he spun Mjolnir in his hands, his mind still struggling with what Loki's fate was going to be.

"Everyone be careful…" started Captain America.

"Ok let's go John Henry" stated Iron Man firing up his repulsors and launching into the air.

"Who is this John Henry?" asked Thor rhetorically flying behind him.

"…And work together" Cap finished with a sigh. He looked at Black Widow and Hawkeye who shrugged and started making their way towards the castle where Loki awaited them.

Thunder bellowed and Lightning struck as Thor slammed Mjolnir through the roof of the castle and landed in the center of the courtyard and scanned around looking for Loki. Iron Man landed behind Thor and had all sorts of weapons popping out as he tried to look intimidating behind the hammer wielding Thunder god.

Cap busted open the front door with Black Widow close behind and Hawkeye moving silently above them on the second floor. "This is over Brother, come out" yelled Thor. He looked around as Captain America and Black Widow joined them in the courtyard.

"Oh brother" hissed out over the quietness of the night air. Loki strode forward in front of the Avengers. "I didn't hear you come in Thor, you really should knock before you just barge in" Loki sneered as he slowly approached the group.

"Stand down Loki, shut the machine down and come quietly" stated Cap with his shield at the ready.

"But my friends will be arriving so very soon, I would hate to disappoint them" Loki laughed out as Thor's face turned to an annoyed grimace. "You should come down with the others archer. Hate for you to feel lonely" Loki stated as Hawkeye snorted and aimed for Loki's head when suddenly Piledriver flew out from the side and shoulder tackled Hawkeye through a wall and Bulldozer quickly followed up picking Hawkeye up and throwing him from the second floor down with the rest of the Avengers.

Thor yelled and flew towards Loki only to be hit in the back midflight by the Wreckers crowbar. "Didn't see that coming did you?" The Wrecker sneered as he was joined by Thunderball.

Bruce was kneeling closer to the castle he could hear banging in the distance but still wasn't sure if the Hulk was needed yet. He spun around quickly when he heard leaves and branches rustling behind him. The darkness was almost overwhelming, "Stay calm" he said to himself. He just barely heard the hissing as the Lizard dove from a tree above him.

Thor tried to pick himself up but was sent back down by Wrecker who moved to hit Thor again when Cap's shield flew in and delivered a blow to the Wreckers chin. Hawkeye stood up just as Piledriver and Bulldozer leapt down to surround Widow, Hawkeye, Iron Man, and Captain America just as his shield boomeranged back to him. Thunderball spun his ball and chain in the air and launched it towards the group who dodged the ball just before it landed a blow.

"Where's Bruce when you need him?" stated Iron Man out loud just as Bruce came flying through the now demolished door way Cap and Widow had come through and slid to a stop behind Piledriver and Bulldozer who looked back at the man.

The Lizard leapt through the door and hissed at the two members of the Wrecking Crew as it approached the fallen Bruce Banner. "Well it would seem things are falling apart rather quickly for you" mocked Loki as he looked back to check the machine.

Bruce started to get up on his hands and knees when the Lizard bit down on his right shoulder, Bruce screamed out as the blood started to trickle down his arm and back. His eyes flew open as the shade went a deep green and his body began to grow and turn green. The Lizard let go of Bruce as he changed and was thrown off by the Hulk as the transformation completed.

The Hulk looked around and saw the Wrecking Crew and growled as the Lizard hissed at him. Piledriver looked at Bulldozer who shrugged as the Hulk moved towards them. An energy blast flew in and hit the Hulk in the chest, the Hulk looked at Loki who had fired the blast and leapt at the trickster. The Hulk was about to get his hands on Loki when the Lizard tackled him through the side of the castle and into the open air.

Iron Man moved to go help the Hulk when Thunderball landed a blow on him and sent him flying into another room off the courtyard. Bulldozer approached Black Widow with a smile "Hello little lady" he said as Widow slowly backed away from him.

Hawkeye fired an arrow at Piledriver and cut him across his cheek, Piledriver scowled and charged at Hawkeye who dodged just in time and fired another arrow that stuck in the back of Piledriver who turned and started attacking Hawkeye who made a move to get up on the second floor where Piledriver quickly followed up the stairs.

The Wrecker shook his head and picked his crowbar up and turned to see the fighting "Hello there" he heard from behind him. He turned to find Thor smiling at him before smacking him with Mjolnir. The Wrecker hit a wall and dodged a second blow from Thor while delivering a strike of his own with his crowbar.

Cap looked around as the carnage unfolded around him before his gaze ended on Loki who was staring directly at the super soldier. Loki smiled as he slowly backed up as Captain America approached him. "Fighting to save the world once again Captain except this isn't the world you left behind is it" stated Loki as he swung with his staff that was blocked by Cap with ease.

"Doesn't mean the world isn't worth saving" he replied as the two struck and parried each other's blows.

The Hulk was a whole new level of monster for the Lizard who had never seen anything of the Hulk's size that wasn't an airplane. It slashed at the Hulk who grunted and was bleeding but showed no other ill effects of the Lizard's onslaught. The Hulk yelled just as the Lizard jumped into the air, the Hulk delivered a right fist into the midsection of the Lizard that flew back and ran into a tree.

The Lizard shook its head and darted into the dark tree branches hoping to ambush the green giant.

Iron Man dodged Thunderball's ball and chain, "Can I get a hand here?" he shouted out loud but got no response from anyone since everyone else was busy with their own problems. Hawkeye was too busy dodging Piledriver and Widow was firing her Widow's Bite at Bulldozer with some effect.

Thor and the Wrecker collided weapons several times, Wrecker laughed "Always liked having a friend around to have my back" he said as Thunderball spun around and hit Thor from behind with his ball and chain.

Captain America and Loki slammed together and came face to face "All of this for a world that you don't belong in, and look at your so called Avengers." Cap looked around and could see that the rest of them were struggling to handle the Wrecking Crew. "You've failed Rogers just like you failed before" hissed Loki.

Cap sighed and turned to give Loki a look of determination as he pushed with all his might sending Loki backward against the wall behind him. Cap turned and ran towards the rest of the Avengers as Loki fired off an energy blast from his staff that Cap dodged as he leapt into action.

Cap launched himself and delivered a shield charge to Piledriver who fell over the railing and landed in the center of the courtyard where the fighting had initially begun. Hawkeye looked over and saw Cap moving towards Iron Man and Thunderball and Hawkeye loaded up an arrow and took aim at Bulldozer who was currently cornering Black Widow.

The arrow stuck into Bulldozer's left shoulder who screamed out in agony and turned his attention to Hawkeye who waved a smiled, he turned his attention back to Black Widow who proceeded to hit him in the chin with a pipe she picked up while he was distracted. "Cap" cried out Hawkeye signaling Widow who turned to see Captain America diving towards Thunderball who was still swinging his ball and chain at Iron Man. Widow raised her arm and fired off her Widow's bite distracting Thunderball who was surprised when Cap jumped on his back and tackled him to the ground.

Iron Man watched closely and moved in to help Cap "No, go help Bruce, we got this" Cap ordered as Thunderball knocked him off and picked himself up.  
Iron Man nodded and flew out the Hulk sized hole in the wall, Black Widow and Hawkeye joined Captain America in the center as Thor was sent flying towards them by the Wrecker.

"Well this isn't going the way we planned" stated Thor as he stood up and shook the dirt off his body. Captain America assessed the situation as the Wrecking Crew closed in around them.

Iron Man got out into the open and very quickly spotted the Hulk searching the woods around the castle. "Hey big guy. Where is the big green reptile you were dealing with?" he asked as he scanned the area. The Hulk snorted at Iron Man and growled as Iron Man approached him. "Chill out. I'm here to help" he said just as the Lizard jumped out and tackled Iron Man to the ground. The Lizard opened its jaws and was about to crust Iron Man's head when the Hulk managed to grab the Lizard and throw it several dozen yards away from Iron Man.

The Hulk yelled at the Lizard who hissed back and charged at the Hulk who captured the Lizard and grappled with the creature. The two behemoths ended up walking away from Iron Man who looked up and pulled up the antidote for the Lizard transformation. "Here we go" he said as he aimed the dart and fired it hitting the Lizard in the chest and causing it to fall to the ground and shriek in pain.

The Hulk watched as the Lizard shrunk back to Curt Connors and turned his attention to Iron Man who slowly stood up. The rest of the team fought their way out of the castle and was more than holding their own against the Wrecking Crew. Cap and Thor kept the Wrecking Crew at bay while Hawkeye and Black Widow hit them from a distance.

Loki was about to join the fight when he turned and saw that the machine was nearing full power. "Almost there" he said turning his attention away from the battle outside.

"We need to end this" cried out Captain America prompting a nod from Thor who unleashed a lightning blast that backed the Wrecking Crew away from them.

Iron Man looked at the battle and then back at the Hulk who was still staring warily at Curt Connors as if expecting the Lizard to reappear and attack. "Hey Hulk, remember those guys?" asked Iron Man hoping that some part of Bruce Banner's memory would remind the Hulk who the Wrecking Crew and Loki were.

The Hulk looked at Iron Man and then looked where he was pointing as the Wrecking Crew prepared for its next attack. Flashes of things came to the Hulk's mind, pain and fear seeped through the Hulk's mind and his rage boiled. The Hulk yelled and leapt into the air and landed directly in front of the Wrecking Crew.

Wrecker and Thunderball looked at each other as the Hulk landed in front of the group and watched even more shocked as Piledriver and Bulldozer were quickly launched out of sight by the green giant. The Hulk turned his attention to the final two members of the Wrecking Crew who were in such awe of the beast that they didn't even raise their weapons to fight back and the Hulk smashed them senseless.

Loki snapped out of his gaze in time to realize the fighting had stopped and his Wrecking Crew had come out on the losing end of the deal. Loki could tell the machine was about to rip open a portal to the rest of the universe and the whole universe would finally see the Earth on a scale that would certainly bring visitors and most with bad intentions.

He needed to buy time and with that he reached his magic out and found that magic in the area, he didn't know where it was coming from and he didn't care but he needed to use it to defeat the Avengers and eventually to conquer this world.


	25. Ringing the Dinner Bell

Thor led the Avengers minus the Hulk back into Garrett Castle where Loki was still waiting for them. He felt an old twinge of the Ravens Spire in the air, as if Loki's magic were swirling all around them. "Be vigilant everyone, Loki is up to something" he said just as a magic blast shot out of the dark and knocked Hawkeye through a wall and out of sight.

"Oh brother, you have no idea" came Loki's voice echoing all around the Avengers who circled up hoping to spot the trickster. Another blast shot out that Thor dodged but failed to mention to Iron Man who was sent back through the Hulk sized hole in the wall. "You have underestimated me one too many times Thor" shouted Loki as he dropped from above them and sent a magic shockwave through the ground that leveled the rest of the Avengers.

Iron Man pulled himself up and was about to rejoin the fight when Curt Connors approached him "Tony Stark" he shouted. "I think I can help you" he said prompting Iron Man to stop in his tracks.

"What's up doc?" replied Iron Man holding back a laugh.

"Loki's machine is about to work" he said quickly knowing there was not much time to lose. A loud woosh ripped through the area as the machine finally generated the portal Loki had been waiting for.

Loki laughed as the portal grew, Thor stood up and waited for the planet brokers to appear but nothing happened. Thor looked around as Loki drilled Captain America with his staff. "Where is your so-called army Loki?" Thor asked prompting an even bigger laugh from Loki.

"Oh Thor, you really are a fool, Planet Brokers are not real, it was all just to distract you all from the truth. Earth has found itself on a nice isolated patch of the universe for its entire lifespan thanks to everything Father has done for it but now I have undone all of it in one simple move." Loki struck Thor and who slid along the ground as Loki approached him. "Earth is a garden world that has one intelligent lifeform on it, that does not happen to planets very often, Father chose to tuck the Earth away from the rest of the universe for one reason or another but I am putting it back on the map, ringing a dinner bell if that simplifies things enough for you" explained Loki who failed to notice Curt Connors and Tony Stark approaching the portal.

The Hulk finished loading the Wrecking Crew into the Quinjet and turned his attention back to the castle where the others were fighting. The small voice in the Hulk's mind was telling him to calm down and to let everyone else handle the situation but the Hulk was not one to listen to the words of puny men.

Cap stood and tried landing a few strikes on Loki who dodged and blocked the strikes with ease and countered sending the hero flying. An arrow shot from the dark hitting Loki in the shoulder who turned to look just in time for Black Widow to land a solid kick to Loki's side. The magic of the area was giving Loki one hell of a boost in power but he knew it wasn't going to last long if he didn't hurry and end this fight. He sent out another shockwave sending Black Widow into Thor and then fired a magic black towards the direction that the arrow had come from.

Tony was typing away on the screen and finally found the off button thanks to quick directions from Connors who had remembered seeing a few things when he was in his Lizard form. The portal vanished prompting a sigh of relief from Tony and a loud shout from Loki who turned to find a now suit less Iron Man. "Uh oh" stated Tony backing up. The portal suddenly reappeared prompting Tony to trip and have the top half of his body fall through the portal.

Loki moved closer only to get drilled in the side by Mjolnir and sent flying out of the castle. Loki landed and was dazed leaving the Avengers in the castle with the portal. Cap made his way to the portal as the others approached and reached for Tony and pulled him back through "You okay?" he asked seeing a shocked look on Tony's face.

"Yeah, I'm fine" replied Tony standing and turning his attention back to the machine.

"What's happening?" asked Black Widow keeping her distance from the portal as it kicked around the air in the room.

"It's self-sustaining now" explained Tony without his usual cocky demeanor clearly shaken by what he had seen on the other side. He looked around, the machine was off and turning it back on would do nothing to solve the current problem, the portal would simply continue to exist now unless they figured out a way to shut it down.

"Okay, what are our options?" asked Cap knowing that they only had a limited opportunity to work before Loki would return with a vengeance.

"Well we can leave it here and just make sure that nothing bad comes out of the other side, since it is running through the machine despite the machine being off we could move it I suppose but who knows how that might destabilize the whole thing" explained Tony noting that Cap's face was telling him those were not options.

"What if I have Heimdall use the Bifrost?" asked Thor garnering looks of confusion from the rest of the Avengers. "We use the Bifrost to move through the nine realms and other parts of the universe, perhaps Heimdall could move the portal away from Earth" explained Thor hoping he has provided and solution to the problem.

Cap nodded but Tony was quick to speak up "That is a solution but it does not solve the actual problem, this thing is a door now, a door that can be walked through on both sides, moving the door does not change the fact that it is a door. Enemies of Asgard or Earth and anywhere we put it will be able to use it anyway they please…we don't have time to deal with this in a long drawn out way."

They were about to start brainstorming again when the Hulk entered the room and picked up a large stone and smashed the device with it. The room fell to silence as the portal vanished and machine lay in pieces. Tony looked carefully and laughed "Well that was one way to deal with it, incredibly lucky I would have thought a portal pushing out that much energy would have had a pretty bad reaction to the barbarian approach."

Tony laughed until he heard the voice of Loki behind him "What's so funny Tin Man?" Loki sent out a shockwave that leveled the Avengers and then fired a blast that sent the Hulk through the back wall.


	26. Final Showdown

Loki had searched deep and found something in the castle that was brimming with magical power and he had tapped into it, victory would still be his even with the portal being lost. Defeating Thor and his new friends would need to suffice as the culmination of his plans, the Earth could be his after all, only the Avengers could stop him and they don't stand a chance.

The Hulk was out of sight but Loki knew that the beast would stir soon, Thor stood up and raised Mjolnir "It's over Loki" he stated as he lashed out with his hammer. Loki parried the blow with his staff and laughed whatever was feeding him power was giving him more than enough to handle the job at hand. Thor's hammer and Loki's staff collided repeatedly until Captain America leapt into action driving his shield into Loki's back. Loki was pushed forward and took a direct hit from Mjolnir, sending him flying out of the castle.

Tony pulled himself back to his armor outside when Loki flew out of the castle and skidded to a stop a few hundred yards away from him. Iron Man blasted towards the God of Mischief hoping to end the fight when Loki popped up and blasted Iron Man out of the air. Hawkeye and Black Widow had stood back up and were providing covering fire from the castle as they moved to help Iron Man. Loki deflected a few arrows and bullets, "Yeah this is working really well" noted Widow who looked at Hawkeye who simply shrugged watching Thor launch himself at Loki.

The sons of Odin once again parried each other blows in the trees surrounding Garrett Castle as Cap joined Widow and Hawkeye who were closing in as the brothers dueled. Iron Man stood himself up "Where the hell is Banner?" he asked. The Avengers charged in alongside Thor all attempting to hit Loki with everything that they had.

Loki had been shocked by how quickly the Avengers seemed to be figuring each other out, he sent out another shockwave that pushed them back and gave him a little bit of room to work with and once again reached for the magic he had felt within the castle. He sent out several energy blasts that once again got all the members of the Avengers on the ground and smiled to himself. When the smile creased his lips, that was when he felt the magic starting to wane, he used his magic to pull himself away from the Avengers and took a breath. He had pushed too hard, too fast and now he had drained whatever it was that was helping his strength, he needed some time to recover but it was now a question of whether the Avengers would give him that or not.

Captain America stood up and watched as Black Widow, Hawkeye, Iron Man, and Thor joined him. "So still no Banner?" stated Iron Man with a sigh of annoyance.

"Never said the Hulk was a reliable part of the team" answered Hawkeye with a slight grin.

"Okay, Loki must be weakening, right? It's the only reason he would back off when he had the advantage like that" reasoned Black Widow as she reloaded her weapons.

Cap nodded affirmative "That doesn't really help us though, he still has enough power to take us down even in his weakened state" remarked Iron Man.

"I can outlast him" stated Thor "This is a fight that is here on Earth because of me, I will finish it myself."

Cap shook his head "No, we have to work together to bring him down, he is stronger than us individually but together he can't keep up with us. We just have to work together like we did against the Hulk" reasoned Captain America getting nods from Black Widow and Hawkeye.

"Well you got a plan Uncle Sam?" asked Iron Man prompting a grin from Captain America.

Loki stood up and looked around, he had expected Thor or Stark to come running on by now, they were clearly up to something but the magic drain had dulled his senses, he could not find them in amongst the trees. He heard an explosion nearby but saw no fire and felt no pain, all he could see was a smoke that clouded his vision even further. Loki growled in frustration knowing a trap when he saw one. He felt the prick of Black Widows electric bite which distracted him from Hawkeye's explosive arrow that sent him flying in heap a few dozen yards away.

Loki pulled himself up just in time for Iron Man to land about ten yards away from him "Jarvis, everything to the repulsors" he ordered just as a beam launched from his mechanical hand. Loki raised his own hand and fired an energy blast to hold Iron Mans attack at bay.

Captain America then landed ten yards away on the opposite side of Loki as if the heroes intended to squash Loki like a grape "Whenever you're ready Stark" shouted Cap as Iron Man raised his other hand and fired another beam just behind Loki that struck Captain America's Shield and then redirected back at Loki who then raised his other hand to send another energy blast to match the new assault. "Thor, you're up" shouted Cap and Thor landed directly in front of Loki.

Loki's eyes grew huge when he realized what had happened, he was now stuck in the perfect trap, if he raises his hands to defend against Thor, the combined might of Iron Man and Captain America's joint attack would overwhelm him but if he did nothing Thor would crush him and in that instant Loki knew it was over.

Thor raised Mjolnir ready to strike at Loki, he would do what he was bid to do by his father and bring his adopted brother to justice, but here he was an opportunity to finish the job himself but he was hesitating. The hammer was weighing more and more in his hand, the image of his little brother locked in a vice of energy wrecked his very soul.

The sound had fallen away now, all Thor could see was the life he had lived alongside Loki. Captain America and Iron Man were yelling at him now, he lowered Mjolnir to his side.

Iron Man sighed "Perfect, the final shot of the plan and he chokes."

Captain America looked around "We need to figure something out then" he said hoping that the solution would present itself.

Thor heard a loud thud behind him and turned to find the Hulk staring back at him. The Hulk yelled at Thor who moved out of the way as the Hulk surveyed the situation. "No idea where you've been big guy but I am glad to see you" stated Iron Man.

Loki looked around realizing what was about to happen "Hulk Smash" yelled Captain America. The Hulk charged at Loki delivering a massive kick that sent Loki flying through the air.

Loki wasn't sure exactly how many things he ran into but he was positive that the number was very high and most of them had been trees. His chest was collapsed and several of his joints were dislocated not to mention the tree that toppled on top of him. He managed to get himself out from underneath it and pulled himself to a sitting position with the felled tree working like the back of a chair. Iron Man was the first to arrive to greet him followed quickly by the Hulk who was carrying Hawkeye and the Black Widow with him. Captain America seemed to have ran to Loki's position which Loki found to be quite impressive given the beating the red, white, and blue hero had taken during the last hour or so.

Iron Man raised his hand towards Loki and charged up his repulsor "So we capture this guy and Thor takes him back to his place and he ceases to be our problem, right?" he asked just as Thor landed in front of the group and took a few steps towards Loki.

"Well you can take it from here Thor" stated Iron Man lowering his repulsor and taking a moment to catch his breath and check the damage to the suit.

Thor looked at Loki carefully knowing that he had to take Loki home to his father who would no doubt turn him over to the Jotuns for Loki unleashing the Destroyer on them. The whole affair seemed so long ago now but the wounds were still fresh, and it time was coming for Loki to pay.

Thor raised Mjolnir up ready to call Heimdall to pull Loki and himself to Asgard, Loki spoke up from the ground "Just do it already." Thor looked down at Loki who looked at Thor in the eyes "Odin wants me dead but clearly lacks the guts to do it himself, so either you kill me here and now or Odin hands me to the Jotuns and I die there. I would rather just get this whole business over with."

Thor understood his brothers demand but couldn't bring himself to fulfill it, and he made a decision that would certainly cause more damage than prevent but Thor saw no other alternative "Run Loki" whispered Thor. Loki looked more closely at Thor "Get out of here, I'm letting you go. Run brother."

Loki laughed "You just can't do it, can you? How disappointing" he said as he pulled himself up. "If you won't do it, I'll make you wish you had" said Loki before pulling that last little bit of magic from the area and vanished from sight.

"What the hell was that?" asked Iron Man popping himself out of the armor and taking a few steps toward Thor.

"I'm sorry, but I will not condemn my brother to death" explained Thor.

"Yeah, well you can explain that to the families of the Shield agents he killed when this whole thing started" stated Hawkeye turning and starting the long walk back to the castle.

The Hulk ran behind a tree and yelled out in pain "Now what?" stated Captain America raising his shield ready for anything.

Bruce Banner popped his head out from behind the tree "Hey guys, did we think to bring a change of clothes for me by any chance?" he asked holding the shredded pants up to his waist.

Widow shrugged and Coulson's voice came over the radio "Way ahead of you Doctor." A quinjet came flying into the trees and landed amongst the debris of the fight. The quinjet opened up and Coulson came strolling out with a gym bag "Everyone is welcome to get on board and we can head back to the Helicarrier" Coulson explained handing the bag to Banner and then leading everyone back to the quinjet.


	27. One That Got Away

The trip back to the Helicarrier was a quiet one except for Stark who was talking Banner's ear off about various subjects. Thor stood apart from the rest of the group knowing that letting Loki go may have damaged his relationship with this group permanently.

Steve stood up and made his way to the brooding God of Thunder, "How are you?" he asked standing next to Thor.

Thor looked over at Steve with a hint of surprise "I'm fine…I'm sorry for letting Loki go but it was the only decision I could have made" Thor explained.

Thor was about to explain more when Steve spoke up "I understand." Thor looked surprised "We've all had to make tough choices, all watched friends die. I've fought my share of bad people but none of them have been family. I can't imagine what the last few days have been like for you."

Thor nodded "Thank you for your kindness but I doubt the others will feel the same."

Steve shrugged "Maybe not but I'm betting that they are more forgiving than you might think" he said patting Thor on the shoulder and turning back towards the rest of the group.

Thor followed close behind him and quickly spoke up "I am truly sorry for allowing Loki to escape and I will take the blame when we return and when I go to my father. I can only hope that you all will be able to forgive me" he said noting the looks on the faces of the various Avengers.

Bruce shrugged "Oh well…not the worst decision in the history of the world and I doubt it will fall into the top ten in that department."

Clint nodded "I was there when you were human remember? I know what your all about… I don't like the decision but it was yours to make. So, we're good."

Natasha looked around and smirked "After the beating we gave him I doubt he'll be showing up here again anyway."

Tony looked up as if pulled out of a trance and coughed "All good Point Break, just do me a favor…next time you run into him and he's causing trouble put an end to it."

Thor nodded "I failed to save Loki once, letting him go now is his one chance to become something better than he is. If Loki is still causing trouble next time we meet I'm afraid that ending him will be my only choice."

The quinjet landed on the deck of the Helicarrier and Fury was waiting for them when the quinjet's ramp dropped "So what happened out there?" he asked as the Avengers made their way off the of the quinjet.

Thor opened his mouth but Steve beat him to the punch "Loki escaped when we were about to call in for transport" he said without much thought causing the other Avengers to look over and nod along.

"Yeah we totally blew this one" stated Tony walking by and heading inside followed by the other Avengers except for Steve who stood next to Fury.

"You know I was following the battle from here right?" Fury asked Steve as the Avengers disappeared inside.

"Yeah" Steve replied.

Fury looked at him closely "So why cover for him?"

Steve sighed almost in relief "This Avengers thing…can do great things together. Risking all of that over the one that got away…just seems pretty dumb in my mind" explained Steve looking at Fury who was smiling.

Fury chuckled as Steve looked at him "What am I going to do to him anyway? He's the God of Thunder."

The two shared a laugh as they entered the Helicarrier. Fury left the Avengers to get out of their gear and unwind before sending them on their ways home. He pulled out his phone and dialed Coulson who was still investigating Garrett Castle.

"Well sir, the machine is demolished but there are remnants of the energy and it matches the Cube's energy exactly. Also, scans are showing that there was an underground to this castle that nobody knew about…I wanted to confirm with you before we start to investigate" explained Coulson as he noted several vehicles approaching his position. "Sir, I'm going to have to call you back. Some very official looking people just showed up and I have a feeling they think they can boss us around."

The agents got out of the car and started barking orders to other agents and directed large vans and trucks to various parts of the area around the castle. "Hey, this place is under quarantine" called out Coulson noting that the agents were clearly ignoring him.

A young woman stepped forward "My name is Amanda Sefton…this is my partner Agent Pete Wisdom. Under the orders of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom all Shield agents are to vacate Garrett Castle and take nothing that is not Shield property with them" she explained with a British accent. The man she had introduced as Pete Wisdom was a large man who would fit in perfectly at a Shield Thanksgiving feast.

Coulson opened his mouth to protest when Sefton held up a piece of paper "MI:13 will handle it from here" she said as Coulson read the paper.

Coulson had been working at Shield for a very long time but he had only ever heard rumors of this form, it was the only thing that Shield could not work its way around. He was officially legally obligated to leave Garrett Castle. "Understood, can you give us a few to get our equipment out of here?" he asked hoping if he were nice she wouldn't run him off which she probably could do if she wanted.

Sefton nodded "Of course but don't dawdle" she said as she led her agents inside. Once Coulson was out of ear shot she talked to one of the agents assigned to her command "Is the sword still here?" she asked. The agent looked at his scanner and gave her a quick nod. She smiled and looked at Wisdom who was as stoic as ever.

Coulson got the Shield equipment and was gone within twenty minutes, Fury was not going to be happy about any of this.

It had been several days since the Avengers stopped Loki, and now Fury needed to give his final report on the operation and assure the council that everything is under control and resolved. The door opened and Fury strode to the middle of the room as various screens with shadowed faces appeared.

"I'm sure that my report is sufficient on this matter" Fury stated looking at each screen.

An American voice spoke up "Where are these Avengers now?" it asked getting some affirmative nods from the rest of the screens.

Fury looked around "They will return to doing what they do. Rogers, Romanoff, and Barton will get back to various operations for Shield. Stark will continue do whatever Stark does and Thor will more than likely return home."

"What of Banner?" came another voice from the screens.

Fury shrugged "Banner escaped soon after Loki did, I'm afraid."

"So, let me get this straight…this Asgardian fugitive teamed up and unleashed the Hulk on civilian populations all over the world and your Avengers only managed to catch a bunch of goons and the scientist responsible for the New York Outbreak" the first voice called out at Fury.

"In Banners defense, he was brainwashed at the time and catching the Wrecking Crew and the Lizard were victories" Fury stated with a pause. "More importantly than all of that is that news of what happened out there will spread, the Avengers just became the biggest deterrent for the free world to use. Think about all the good the Avengers could do for the world, the Brotherhood of Mutants have been causing problems all over the world for the last decade, Hydra, and the Ten Rings. These groups now have to wonder if we will send the Avengers for them next. Losing Loki was a mistake but the Avengers could be used to stop wars before they happen, defeat enemies that we would have no chance against and soon the whole world and beyond will know that they are here and they are ready."

Several of the figures on the screens were nodding along while some were clearly annoyed with Fury. "Very well Fury, The Council officially grants the Avengers as a team under the command of Shield…but remember if this ever goes wrong…it's on you." The screens all went blank and Fury turned and exited the room to the command deck of the Helicarrier that had just dropped the Avengers off at Stark Tower.

Coulson approached but Fury waved him off, the Garrett Castle report would have to wait he had to pick a few things up before his meeting in a few hours, Loki had revealed something important and Fury needed it investigated.


	28. Science Fair Kid

Tony had everyone on the helipad at the top of Stark Tower, "I feel like the wizard at the end of Wizard of Oz" he said which made Steve laugh way more than it should have. "Okay, so everyone gets a present from me for our first of hopefully many successful missions." He moved towards Natasha and Clint handing each a case.

They both opened and found brand new weapons and equipment "Didn't I ask for something like this a few weeks ago?" asked Natasha

"Better late than never right guys" he answered moving on towards Thor. "Hey, if there was anything you would want to say to Jane Foster…what would it be?"

Thor thought for a moment and moved to speak when Tony held up his hand and pointed to a now landing Quinjet. "Don't tell me…tell her" he said just as the ramp dropped and Jane came striding out. Thor looked shocked before running and embracing her with an Asgardian sized hug.

Bruce was standing off a short way from everyone else when Tony moved towards him and smiled "For you Mr. Fugitive" he said hoping to get a laugh and not the slightly awkward look from Banner "Okay look, you get to stay here tonight and you get this fancy phone that I designed so we can all contact you" he said turning to rest of the team and throwing other phones to them. "That's right everyone gets a phone so we can keep in touch and be available in case the team is needed again, we all don't want to be stuck to Fury's needs and desires, do we?" he said getting a slight smile from everyone.

He was going to throw Thor his phone when he realized that Jane and Thor were still a little preoccupied at the Quinjet. "I'll just give Thor his later" he said putting it back into his pocket. "Also, I would like to let you all know that my father's mansion upstate is being cleaned up as we speak and you are all more than welcome to use it whenever you want. I'm also having a sign being put up out front as I am now calling it Avengers Mansion."

"Thanks Tony but I can't stay here very long" explained Bruce hoping to make his exit soon.

"I know that's why tomorrow morning after all of the festivities are over I will personally drive you to the airport where my own personal jet will fly you wherever you want to go with no records or flight plan. So, you get to relax tonight big guy" Tony said without waiting for a response.

After Tony's gift giving the party got started and soon the Avengers were all mingling with Shield personnel and some of Tony's friends.

Steve was sitting around watching the festivities when he noticed Tony standing outside, he got up and made his way towards the billionaire. "You seem distant" he said making Tony jump.

Tony laughed and looked at Steve who then noticed Jane and Thor in the corner on the balcony trying to pretend that nobody else was in the building much less on the large balcony with them. "A lot on my mind I suppose" replied Tony who had yet to take any real drink so far.

"You okay?" Steve asked turning his attention to the party while talking to Tony.

Tony smiled "I'm always good Cap, just ask anybody. Nothing gets me down and out."

Steve looked over at Tony and could see that something was on his mind but didn't want to press him feeling that maybe that wasn't his place just yet. "Don't worry about me Steve, I can handle whatever this world throws at me" He finished downing his drink in one gulp.

As Steve looked at him he found himself doubting Tony's words and hoped that the billionaire had someone he could open up too.

Tony's phone rang prompting him to answer "Tony, your appointment is here and he is on his way up."

Tony nearly dropped his phone "The science fair kid!" he said as he hung it up and waved everyone inside. "Ok, well this kid is in for the surprise of his life" he said throwing some kind of pottery at Thor who looked and led Jane inside. "Alright, this kid won a city-wide science fair that I sponsored to celebrate the opening of my tower here and I'm paying for his college tuition and generally taking on some kind of mentoring role…assuming he isn't annoying to be around of course." Steve rolled his eyes "So everybody clap or something when he comes out."

"What's his name?" asked Steve hoping to make everything seem more personal that was a tip that Howard had mentioned to him once about being at parties.

Tony opened his mouth and then closed it again "Pedro? Maybe Pablo? Or maybe its Paul? Something with a P, I know that" he answered gathering another roll of the eyes from everyone in the room.

The elevator opened and an unassuming looking high schooler entered the penthouse of Stark Tower to find Tony Stark and several other people waiting for him. The Avengers began clapping and cheering the young man as he moved towards the group. Tony moved forward and shook the young man's hand "Alright everyone…" he started not wanting to get the kids name wrong "Introduce yourself to this little genius here" he said internally patting himself on the back.

Natasha and Clint introduced themselves and moved towards the back of the group hoping to avoid the spotlight. "I am Thor, the God of Thunder" stated Thor with a rather glowing smile on his face.

"Steve Rogers" said Steve shaking the young man's hand and noting the impressive grip the high schooler had.

"Hey, I know that name from my history class" he said with wide eyes.

Steve smiled and nodded "That's me" he stated having grown accustom to people remembering him from history books.

The young man barely had any time to think when Tony pushed him towards Bruce Banner, Bruce wasn't sure of what to say when the young man spoke first "Your Dr. Bruce Banner…I've read all of your books and theories." The young man said with a level of excitement that caught everyone off guard. The kid was talking about all sorts of Banner's theories when Stark pulled him away and towards the front of the group.

"Well kid I just want to let you know how lucky you really are…you see you are about to find yourself a part of Super Hero team up history" explained Tony as the young man's eyes grew large. "You get to be front and center of our first team photo" explained Tony getting groans from the Avengers but giddy excitement from the kid.

Tony motioned the kid towards the Avengers and had everyone huddle behind the high schooler "Jarvis if you would be so kind to take the picture so we can send this fine young man on his way" stated Tony.

Thor hunched over and ended up knocking a book off a shelf that the high schooler caught with ease. "Nice reflexes" remarked Steve as the kid smiled.

"Thanks" he replied handing the book to Stark who chucked it across the room knocking over bar glasses and other things.

Steve leaned down and asked "What's your name?"

The kid smiled warmly "Peter…Peter Parker."


	29. Epilogue: Unlimited Power

The case was heavy in Fury's hand but Shield had done everything it could do with it and he needed more opinions and the most readily available one was at a school in Salem Center, New York. Fury had been paying more and more visits here but this one was even more important. He walked down the hall to find the man he was looking for "Charles Xavier" he said as a bald man in a wheel chair turned to see him.

"Good afternoon, Director" Xavier said with a warm smile despite a slightly annoyed look on his face. Fury put the case on the table "Now, what could that be?" Xavier asked not wanting to break the promise he made to Fury when their relationship started almost a decade earlier.

"Something for Dr. McCoy to look at for a few weeks. I need more work done but my scientists and techs have done everything that they can do with it" Fury explained.

Charles moved his wheelchair to the case and opened it, he was greeted by a blue light coming from a small cube "What is it?" he asked.

"Power…unlimited power" Fury responded as Xavier shut the case.


End file.
